life after EMT-b?

[amg1322]

I've just recently started my EMT-B class here in south florida, and its giving me alot of insight right off the bat about the field, alot of things that i hadn't really considered before.
now i know its a little early because i just started, but i also know that the odds of getting a job right after EMT are rare...
so what direction do you suggest i head in? what can i do to boost up my resume to be considered for a job? what would you do?

 

[STXmedic]

Get your paramedic

 

[NYMedic828]

Get your RN.

 

[DrankTheKoolaid]

re

Get your RN.

Only if you want to ask permission for every mundane thing the rest of your career. *obviously exceptions apply*

Very few EMS see RN as an upgrade, More of a lateral into a different treatment path which not all EMS folks are interested in. I should know I completed all the California RN pre req work and got wait listed. And thank god I did because the thought of taking care of a set of patients only to go home and sleep and wake up knowing i'm going to take care of the same patients with the same complaints day in day out makes me want to shoot myself. Which is the reason I turned nursing school down 3 times and finally had them remove me from the lottery all together.

Now to answer the OP's questions.

You can go into

Education, Paramedic, EMT, ACLS, PALS, PEPP, PHTLS, NRP, ITLS etc etc instruction

Continue on and get your BS and do something along the lines of Perfusionist. Tons of areas of medicine, education and research you can get into both in and out of the hospital arena

 

[rwik123]

Only if you want to ask permission for every mundane thing the rest of your career. *obviously exceptions apply*

Very few EMS see RN as an upgrade, More of a lateral into a different treatment path which not all EMS folks are interested in. I should know I completed all the California RN pre req work and got wait listed. And thank god I did because the thought of taking care of a set of patients only to go home and sleep and wake up knowing i'm going to take care of the same patients with the same complaints day in day out makes me want to shoot myself. Which is the reason I turned nursing school down 3 times and finally had them remove me from the lottery all together.

Now to answer the OP's questions.

You can go into

Education, Paramedic, EMT, ACLS, PALS, PEPP, PHTLS, NRP, ITLS etc etc instruction

Continue on and get your BS and do something along the lines of Perfusionist. Tons of areas of medicine, education and research you can get into both in and out of the hospital arena

I think this depends on where your a nurse and if you limit yourself by never specializing. I know many nurses who do ED work or CC..they are not as limited as your describing it. While you did do the pre-reqs, anyone can take micro, a&p, and some chem....those don't really entail what nursing school consists of.

 

[VFlutter]

Only if you want to ask permission for every mundane thing the rest of your career. *obviously exceptions apply*

Very few EMS see RN as an upgrade, More of a lateral into a different treatment path which not all EMS folks are interested in. I should know I completed all the California RN pre req work and got wait listed. And thank god I did because the thought of taking care of a set of patients only to go home and sleep and wake up knowing i'm going to take care of the same patients with the same complaints day in day out makes me want to shoot myself. Which is the reason I turned nursing school down 3 times and finally had them remove me from the lottery all together.

Now to answer the OP's questions.

You can go into

Education, Paramedic, EMT, ACLS, PALS, PEPP, PHTLS, NRP, ITLS etc etc instruction

Continue on and get your BS and do something along the lines of Perfusionist. Tons of areas of medicine, education and research you can get into both in and out of the hospital arena

Lolz :rofl:

I won't start a debate :deadhorse: but if you do want some more information on Nursing you can PM me or many of the other nurses or students on the forum.

 

[DrankTheKoolaid]

re

Obviously you guys missed the obvious disclaimer there. --------->* Obvious exceptions apply *<------- thought it was pretty clear.

 

[Mattyirie]

As a current BSN student working as an EMT basic in a fairly busy 911 system I would say TRY to get a job as a basic WHILE moving forward with your studies to either intermediate (if offered in FL) or paramedic and/or nurse. This is what I would do/currently am doing. No need to chose between nurse or paramedic, do both if you really love healthcare.

You may have a few options available to you after getting your EMT-Basic certification so don't limit yourself to just pre-hospital employment. Consider CNA/Tech jobs to get familiar with health care and dealing with patients to see if you really like it. If you are fine with CNA work then you can handle anything healthcare will throw at you in my opinion as you are good at dealing with $h!t (in all forms).

The only other advise I would give you is if you don't like dealing with patients and patient care and find yourself getting a bad attitude over it all, do everyone (yourself included) a favor and find another field because healthcare doesn't need anymore burn outs.

 

[VFlutter]

Obviously you guys missed the obvious disclaimer there. --------->* Obvious exceptions apply *<------- thought it was pretty clear.

I just sounds like you are trying to discourage the OP from nursing by giving a skewed view of the profession. And from the sound of it, your only experience is taking pre-reqs for nursing school and being wait-listed?

From my personal experience, the type of mundane nursing you described is usually general Med/Surg floors. Which albeit makes up a large percentage of jobs in the hospital, it is still only a small portion of the opportunities available. Go shadow in an ICU or ER and you can see some awesome nurses. Also surgery or cath lab is very interesting. I just shadowed a vascular access nurse and helped put in PICC lines, which was awesome but I could see how it could get boring after a while. My end goal is flight nursing which is pretty much complete autonomy.

Also about the comment regarding it being a lateral move and not an upgrade. With my education I can continue on and become a PA, ACNP, CRNA, etc and have a great lifestyle as a advanced practitioner. There are tons of opportunities for nurses in non clinical roles such as case management or administration. There are just way more opportunities for advancement in general than a paramedic. I don't really see any of that available for paramedics.

I am not trying to discourage being a paramedic in anyway, just saying trying to point out the advantageous of nursing. When it is all said and done I will be an RN/EMT-P.


Last side note: Many ICUs use RNs to run ECMO and have a scope very similar to perfusionists.

 

[Mattyirie]

To the OP, welcome to health care! one of the debates that makes you want to gag every time you hear it! Medic vs. RN

Here is the real deal to all those who want "autonomy" as a medic or a nurse.... sack up and go get your M.D., everyone else takes orders.

 

[DrankTheKoolaid]

re

Actually I worked in a ED for 10 years and as an EMT since 1994. Last couple while going to school. Went to paramedic school to keep busy while wait listed initially because I always had wanted to become one one and never looked back. Realized in hospital care was no longer for me and that there are MANY other options in medicine besides nursing.

 

[DrankTheKoolaid]

re

To the OP, welcome to health care! one of the debates that makes you want to gag every time you hear it! Medic vs. RN

Here is the real deal to all those who want "autonomy" as a medic or a nurse.... sack up and go get your M.D., everyone else takes orders.

Lol that

 

[the_negro_puppy]

Come to Australia and pay the college money to get your Paramedic degree here.

Find a nice Aussie girl while studying.........h34r:

 

[Handsome Robb]

Get your RN.

This may be one of the first things you've said that I don't agree with. This is an EMS site last time I checked, not a nursing site...

Let avoid the RN vs. Medic argument. It's apples to oranges.

To answer your question OP, we can't tell you what to do. What do you want to do? Do you want to be a paramedic, firefighter, nurse, PA, NP, MD/DO? All have different things you need to do to get to your goal. I didn't get a true EMS job on an ambulance until 3.5 years after finishing EMT-B and 8 months after getting my Intermediate. With that said I got a paramedic job 2 days after graduating school and start my FTO time next week, 3 weeks after graduating. It's not normal but it's not impossible to get a job right out of school.

 

[pa132399]

so op your in emt school congrats on that. i just graduated from medic school and am half way through the registry written down practical to go. jobs in it are tough when your brand new because emt's are a dime a dozen. stay persistent and keep trying eventually someone with throw you a bone and give you a shot. As for furthering your career in it all depends on how much you love the field. if you truly love the field and are ready to commit to it as a career i would suggest going to medic school. trust me the horror stories arent as bad as everyone makes them out to be, though it truly is as my program could be described as 11 months of hell. take a lot of time but it pays off in the end. wish you the best of luck and hopefully you find this to be a career you will enjoy.

 

[NYMedic828]

This may be one of the first things you've said that I don't agree with. This is an EMS site last time I checked, not a nursing site...

Let avoid the RN vs. Medic argument. It's apples to oranges.

To answer your question OP, we can't tell you what to do. What do you want to do? Do you want to be a paramedic, firefighter, nurse, PA, NP, MD/DO? All have different things you need to do to get to your goal. I didn't get a true EMS job on an ambulance until 3.5 years after finishing EMT-B and 8 months after getting my Intermediate. With that said I got a paramedic job 2 days after graduating school and start my FTO time next week, 3 weeks after graduating. It's not normal but it's not impossible to get a job right out of school.

Apologies. My point of view is a bit skewed this past week due to the complete incompetence I've been dealing with.

I hate to say it but I feel I'm starting to lose hope in EMS. Just seems
to be no true future here anymore.

 

[johnzaci]

That is very nice if you have qualified EMT then just wait for the good hope for the things.

Future is yours

 

[VFlutter]

This may be one of the first things you've said that I don't agree with. This is an EMS site last time I checked, not a nursing site...

Let avoid the RN vs. Medic argument. It's apples to oranges.

Yes this is an EMT website, however I do not see anything wrong with talking about other medical professions.

There are many RT, RN, and MD on the forum. Should they not voice their opinion unless it is related to or encourages EMS?

Not trying to start an argument or comparison between the two. The OP asked for options, we just stated that was one option.

 

[Tigger]

This may be one of the first things you've said that I don't agree with. This is an EMS site last time I checked, not a nursing site...

Let avoid the RN vs. Medic argument. It's apples to oranges.

To answer your question OP, we can't tell you what to do. What do you want to do? Do you want to be a paramedic, firefighter, nurse, PA, NP, MD/DO? All have different things you need to do to get to your goal. I didn't get a true EMS job on an ambulance until 3.5 years after finishing EMT-B and 8 months after getting my Intermediate. With that said I got a paramedic job 2 days after graduating school and start my FTO time next week, 3 weeks after graduating. It's not normal but it's not impossible to get a job right out of school.

EMT is one of the easiest ways to get into the healthcare field. If you only put in 130 or so hours, you really do not have much time invested into EMS, so if you find that you want to stay in healthcare but not EMS, it's not like you really wasted much by getting your EMT. I know more than few people that have gotten into EMS and decided it wasn't for them and then they turned around and got either PA or Nursing degrees. Nursing is certainly an option after getting your EMT, just like moving into any other realm of healthcare besides EMS.

 

[Handsome Robb]

To answer your question OP, we can't tell you what to do. What do you want to do? Do you want to be a paramedic, firefighter, nurse, PA, NP, MD/DO? All have different things you need to do to get to your goal.

I didn't say he/she had to stay in EMS...

All I was getting at is it doesn't make sense to tell someone who is an EMT who came to an EMS site to go get their RN without offering up any other options...

Didn't mean to rub anyone the wrong way.