Medic vs RN

[TheDakota54]

I'm an AEMT in Birmingham, but my eventual goal is to get my RN and be a flight nurse. My plan has always been to get my medic, an work as a medic while going through nursing school. But recently I've had a few medics tell me to not worry about my medic and just go straight to RN. In your opinion, would getting my medic first be beneficial to me as an flight nurse, or should I not waste my time and just go to nursing school?

 

[FiremanMike]

IMHO, a flight nurse applicant with actual paramedic experience is far more appealing than one with a paper medic card (aka "I took the bridge course and have never done prehospital care in my life").

Will it make a difference for getting hired, who knows.. Too many outside variables play in to those things.

 

[Gurby]

IMHO, a flight nurse applicant with actual paramedic experience is far more appealing than one with a paper medic card (aka "I took the bridge course and have never done prehospital care in my life").

While this is probably true, I feel like the best option is still to go for the BSN first. I think this approach just makes the pathway a lot more streamlined. Paramedic school is basically a 2-year degree that won't help you much at all with a BSN, so more likely than not you spend 6 years in school total if you go paramedic first.

If you go straight through and get a BSN you're done in 4 years. Spend the next 2-4 years getting critical care experience and making bank, then take a 2-week RN-to-Paramedic bridge program. If you want to be a flight nurse, I suspect that the nursing experience is more important than the paramedic experience. The BSN-first approach gets you more nursing experience and more money in the bank, and you can still pick up part time ambulance work if you want/need it.

 

[STXmedic]

While I agree that a paramedic cert with no experience isn't ideal, companies may still look favorably on it. In Texas, the helicopter can't respond without a paramedic on scene. A nurse that also has a paramedic cert would meet that requirement. So that may be beneficial from a logistics standpoint. On the flip side, they'd still be paying that person a nurse's pay rate.

 

[Carlos Danger]

I am a paramedic who became an RN. I've had several friends do the same. I spent most of my career flying, so I've been asked many times what is the best way for someone who is interested in both EMS and nursing to get into both fields, especially if they wan to fly. My 2 cents is always the same:

• Get your EMT
• Work as an EMT, both before and during nursing school
• Go to nursing school. Preferably a 4-year program, but a 2-year program is fine as long as you start on your BSN soon after graduating the 2-year program.
• Go to work in a high acuity ICU as soon as you can after you become an RN. Move for that opportunity, if you have to.
• Continue to work part-time as an EMT
• Within a year of finishing nursing school - or as soon as you are eligible - challenge the paramedic program, and then work part-time as a paramedic.

It's a challenging and busy career path, but in 6 years or so you'll have a BSN with a couple years of ICU experience, a handful of years of EMS experience as an EMT, and a paramedic card with at least a little EMS experience as a paramedic. You are then in a perfect position to get a job as a CCT or flight nurse, get into teaching, go on to grad school to be an NP or CRNA, or just keep enjoying life doing both nursing and EMS. And you were able to work the whole time.

My other piece of advice is the slow down a little and live life. It's great to have goals that you are working towards, but don't be so focused on the future that you don't live for today. It's easy for motivated, driven people to fall into that trap.

 

[Run with scissors]

I've read of some requirements for job postings. And all the flight nurse positions require nursing experience. So if that's your goal, I would pursue the nursing route 100%

You know what they say, be good. Or be good at it.

 

[Akulahawk]

If your goal is flight nurse, be a nurse. You should be able to pick up Paramedic and/or ground CCT nursing experience along the way. If a company is willing to hire a new nurse that doesn't have any more hospital experience (new=<2 years) you should run away.

Go for BSN or higher as this narrows the pool you'll compete against for reputable flight jobs.