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Mattyirie

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Hey all,

I am posting here to get opinions from those with experience as I am at a cross roads at the moment.

here is the rundown:

i am currently completing my last semester of pre-req's for nursing and have made application to a CCNE accredited BSN program with a 3.68 GPA (4.0 in all sciences, bad grades from a previous round with academia...it won, i didn't). I have a friend that is a paramedic working for the local ambulance service that is trying very hard to get me to consider becoming a paramedic. there is no apparent selfish motivation for this guy other than he thinks i would make a good medic (not touting myself just stating his opinion). i know this friend to be a good medic due to the respect i see him getting and his advancement within a company of over 100 EMT's in the city.

here are the reasons to consider paramedic before nursing:

i am being offered many extra learning tools while i complete the EMS program. i will be hired on with a busy ambulance service after EMT-B certification and will be paired with good medics to learn from and my friend to help me work through endless scenarios and other things i would need to allow me to get the most from the entire EMS program (emt-b thru emt-p). the plan after being a paramedic for awhile would be to continue on thru CCEMT-P and other certifications and while simultaneously getting my BSN (online thru excelsior).

i feel this foundation would give me the most medical knowledge and allow me to be the best i could possibly be in healthcare which is all that matters to me..not the pay at this time.

i also feel that with all the people finding nursing because of the "secure job and high pay" after they got burned by the economy last time (and cant find work in their other careers) are saturating the nursing field and decreasing the quality of the programs nation wide. many people i have talked to dont even care about medicine, just money and security. many of these people dont care about knowledge base, just passing nursing school by whatever means. i dont want to be immersed in this type of environment or associated with it.

reasons for nursing school first:

I have spent 1 year working very hard to get straight A's in the sciences for this competitive program. i am very close and have a semi strong application. i will get my letter (for or against) in october of this year. it seems that getting into a nursing program (for someone with little medical experience) is something that doesnt happen to everyone.


so i guess i am leaning pretty hard toward the foundation in EMS but am looking for any other variable i didnt consider about this decision.

what are your opinions and yes i can and want to handle the messy side of EMS.
 
As a friend of mine at one of the hospitals put it 'paramedic was my fun job, nursing is my grown up job'
To be honest I'd say get your RN first. I'll expand on my thoughts why when I'm not actively driving :p

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
 
It's really about what you want to do. Do you want to be a nurse or a paramedic? Do you want to receive training or an education? (Yes, I realized there are a limited number of paramedic programs out there that truly educate their students, but I am speaking in generalities at the moment.) They are apples and oranges.

EMS focuses on simplifying the "medicine" and teaching skills. You are trained to quickly recognize and deal with the short term problems created by a list of signs and symptoms.

From what I can tell, nursing programs present a more complete education about disease processes, as well as the short and long term issues that arise from them. It seems like it is a more complete picture than EMS. However, I have never had a desire to be a nurse or attend nursing school, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

If you truly have an interest in EMS, wait and see if you get accepted into nursing school or not. If not, look at entering EMS. If so, forget about EMS for right now, and head to nursing school. You can always go back and pick up the EMS stuff later, if you decide you still want to. EMS is filled with people who are "going to go" to either nursing or med school, yet never seem to make it. If nursing is your ultimate goal, don't let yourself become one of them. It is easy to get sucked into EMS and loose sight of any other goals you may have had.
 
On paper, if you want to do a 2-column evaluation of "Works" and "Doesn't Work" I think it's fair to say that the extreme limitations in any sort of career track (at best, in some few localities only) combined with the high stakes and stresses of the job would pretty well sink the EMS ship...

...for the rational person, that is!

To even think about entering EMS you have to have at least half of the craziness it takes to want to dedicate yourself to a relatively low-paying and somewhat invisible position.

The motivation MUST come from somewhere because it takes motivation to start and it takes motivation other than job security to stay in!

As a Nurse, you'll have zero trouble finding work once the Baby Boomers (like me!) start circling the drain. That'll be about the time you graduate.

Let's just say if you go toward Nursing you will enter a solid system that offers mobility, including upward mobility within a very short time. If you enter EMS you'll have to pretty much build that path for yourself.

Both are challenging fields but in different ways. My conclusion still remains: EMS is a "have-to" sort of thing more than a "want to". If you gotta do it, you gotta do it and damn the logic!

Whatever your choice, for Gosh sakes enjoy it! Best of good fortune.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Mattyirie said:
Hey all,

I am posting here to get opinions from those with experience as I am at a cross roads at the moment.

here is the rundown:

i am currently completing my last semester of pre-req's for nursing and have made application to a CCNE accredited BSN program with a 3.68 GPA (4.0 in all sciences, bad grades from a previous round with academia...it won, i didn't). I have a friend that is a paramedic working for the local ambulance service that is trying very hard to get me to consider becoming a paramedic. there is no apparent selfish motivation for this guy other than he thinks i would make a good medic (not touting myself just stating his opinion). i know this friend to be a good medic due to the respect i see him getting and his advancement within a company of over 100 EMT's in the city.

here are the reasons to consider paramedic before nursing:

i am being offered many extra learning tools while i complete the EMS program. i will be hired on with a busy ambulance service after EMT-B certification and will be paired with good medics to learn from and my friend to help me work through endless scenarios and other things i would need to allow me to get the most from the entire EMS program (emt-b thru emt-p). the plan after being a paramedic for awhile would be to continue on thru CCEMT-P and other certifications and while simultaneously getting my BSN (online thru excelsior).

i feel this foundation would give me the most medical knowledge and allow me to be the best i could possibly be in healthcare which is all that matters to me..not the pay at this time.

i also feel that with all the people finding nursing because of the "secure job and high pay" after they got burned by the economy last time (and cant find work in their other careers) are saturating the nursing field and decreasing the quality of the programs nation wide. many people i have talked to dont even care about medicine, just money and security. many of these people dont care about knowledge base, just passing nursing school by whatever means. i dont want to be immersed in this type of environment or associated with it.

reasons for nursing school first:

I have spent 1 year working very hard to get straight A's in the sciences for this competitive program. i am very close and have a semi strong application. i will get my letter (for or against) in october of this year. it seems that getting into a nursing program (for someone with little medical experience) is something that doesnt happen to everyone.


so i guess i am leaning pretty hard toward the foundation in EMS but am looking for any other variable i didnt consider about this decision.

what are your opinions and yes i can and want to handle the messy side of EMS.
Click to expand...

It all depends on what you want really. I ended up getting my EMT-B bc ive always wanted to work in EMS, never realize how much id love it. Im now in my last year of nursing school. I plan on going for paramedic after I take a break LOL...workin my @$$ off right now LOL~

Why would i go for -P after im an RN, bc I love being out in the field.:)

But, overall you can never go wrong with a RN license/degree. There will never be a shortage of patients and there will always be a need..maybe not where u want to work (nursing home or long term care) but there will be a job :)
 
If it were my choice, I'd give priority to getting a degree.
 
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