Everything!!! I am a sponge... Lifestyle, education, wages, work Pro's/Con's, Regrets, experiences, time spent trying to get a flight job, do you ever think about going even further than RN? Anything/Everything if you have the time. Sorry pre-empt I'm using my phone to write currently and it's taking forever...
Also, What Podcast are you a host on?
and Thank you for your time in responding...
Lifestyle - Not sure what you mean.
Education - If you are talking about what is required, BSN is preferred, you need ACLS, PALS, BLS, NRP, and PHTLS or ITLS (Instructorships preferred), you will also need one of the following: CFRN, CCRN, or CEN within one year of hire.
If you are not an MSN, you will also need your EMT or Paramedic license.
You will need at a minimum 3 years of experience working either as
A Paramedic in a high density urban 911 system, RN working in a critical care unit (Trauma I Hospitals preferred), or RN working in an emergency department.
The job listings usually say that you need 3-5 years experience, but in reality, most applicants have > 10 years experience.
The Pro's are that you get to bring a more informed care to the field with an expanded skill set, participate in educating fellow EMS Professionals in your community by way of CEU courses, and your scenery changes.
The cons are, you are in cramped quarters, wearing a helmet means you never get a chance to have a good hair day, the pay is typically not as good as what you made in an ICU (After all, there are 100 people lined up just waiting for your job).
As far as further than RN, I am further than RN, I am a Nurse Practitioner. I take my acute care nurse practitioner (ACNP-BC) board examination this month. I have a bachelors of biochemistry, and just took the MCAT so I can begin the admissions process for medical school.
People generally get the wrong idea of what a day is like for HEMS. A lot of what I do involves transporting patients from an ICU of a less capable medical center to the trauma I where they can get the proper definitive care. Whenever we fly out to the scene of a car accident, it is the ground medics that get the patient at their worst typically. By the time we get to the scene, they are usually already stabilized and packaged.
Whenever I show up on a scene, I prefer having the patient loaded in an ambulance so I can get a good listen of their lungs, get a good manual BP, and do a few assessments. By the time we have them in the chopper, this is not really an option.
Podcast - I co-host the official podcast of EMTLife.com (
http://emtlife.com/podcast)
