Navy Corpsman Vs Paramedic

[ZootownMedic]

You are all wrong.....

I hate to be the one to set everyone straight but you are all wrong. The 18 Delta course and the SOCM course (Special Operations Command Medical) do not teach to the NREMT-P standard. Now this is not to say that 18 Delta's, SEAL Corpsman, or other graduates of the SOCM course aren't damn good. I was a Airborne Ranger myself that served in 3/75 Ranger batt and my best friend was a 18D with 10 SFG. They are all trained to the NREMT-B level. Here's a catch though. My friend who was a 18D just graduated from Paramedic school in the civilian world and his internship was waived and he was allowed to sit for the NREMT-P exam after class was over. SOCOM headquarters at Ft. Bragg is recognized by the NREMT to the Paramedic level. Heres the thing to remember. Special Operations medics are trained extremely well and my experience with them is that they are all amazing medics BAR NONE. However....they are all usually used to dealing with healthy, young individuals and there training is usually based around that as well as trauma. Take medical emergencies especially ones involving geriatrics or peds and they are far behind the knowledge and experience of civilian medics. There lies the difference. Hope this helps everyone out with a little knowledge. Oh and yes USAF PJ's are NREMT-P's but they are the absolute creme of the crop when it comes to military medics.

 

[EMTnelly87]

Hmm, I was told the SEAL medics are trained at a Physician Assistant level.

pretty much yes...a Navy Seal medic are usually IDC (independent duty corpsman). Their program is very similar to Physician Assistants. an IDC in the navy can see patients and write prescriptions just as a PA...when most IDC retire or are discharged, they usually challenge the board for PA and start working as a PA. I know 2 people for sure that has done this...one was a Chief (E-7) and one a Petty Officer 1st class (E-6).

I would say that most corpsman straight out of Naval Hospital Corps School are trained at the level of EMT-B, tactical combat casualty care, and a NUMEROUS amount of nursing skills. If you go to Field Medic Service School AFTER your initial corps school, then you learn about more medications, needle decompressions, and a slew of other skills. we don't however learn endotracheal intubation.

in our packs we carry a slew of different pain medications as well as an atropine autoinjector pen in case of a biological chemical attack. some medications we carry only a paramedic would be allowed to administer. we get to do alot of pretty neat things without permission from a medical director. I was a corpsman in the navy, and now i'm in paramedic school. there's ALOT of things i don't know, but it's very easy for me to understand considering i have alot of background in emergency medicine

 

[EMTnelly87]

The SEAL medics go to the armies 18D school. From what I've dug up from some quick google searches, the 18D course will get you within a few classes of getting into PA school...not qualifying you as a PA. It gives you good practical knowledge on become a PA, but lacks the educational component required of being a true PA.. But in the army, an 18D can essentially act as a PA would in the civilian world.

this is absolutely fallacious information. SEAL medics go to field medic service school either camp pendleton in san diego, or camp lejune in north carolina, AND they also go through Independent Duty Corpsman school which is a NAVY advance school (C school) not Army.

 

[lightsandsirens5]

I'm pretty sure SOCOM is at MacDill AFB in Tampa. Not at Ft. Bragg.

 

[VFlutter]

pretty much yes...a Navy Seal medic are usually IDC (independent duty corpsman). Their program is very similar to Physician Assistants. an IDC in the navy can see patients and write prescriptions just as a PA...when most IDC retire or are discharged, they usually challenge the board for PA and start working as a PA. I know 2 people for sure that has done this...one was a Chief (E-7) and one a Petty Officer 1st class (E-6).

a NUMEROUS amount of nursing skills.

Do you have any links to support that? Just curious. What type of program is the IDC program? How long is it? Call me skeptical, but I find it hard to believe they are allowed to challenge for PA without being awarded advanced degrees.

Also, there was a PJ medic in the nursing class before me so apparently even though they do "numerous amount of nursing skills" they still have to go through nursing school to practice in the civilian world. There is no challenge that I know of.

 

[EMTnelly87]

Do you have any links to support that? Just curious. What type of program is the IDC program? How long is it? Call me skeptical, but I find it hard to believe they are allowed to challenge for PA without being awarded advanced degrees.

Also, there was a PJ medic in the nursing class before me so apparently even though they do "numerous amount of nursing skills" they still have to go through nursing school to practice in the civilian world. There is no challenge that I know of.

to practice as an RN, YES, but in certain states (california i know of) Hospital Corpsman with a certain number of hospital hours can challenge the board for LVN. if u going through an entire program, it doesn't matter if you've done or know a skill, you're going to have to do it again because it's apart of that curriculum.

here's the information for IDC

http://doni.daps.dla.mil/Directives...s/06-300 General Medicine Support/6320.7A.pdf

and here's the course catalog
http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmotc/swmi/Pages/CourseCatalog.aspx

 

[RocketMedic]

Anyone have any advice at what route to go? I am trying to decide what life I want to persue either the civillian or the military. I feel I would get a whole lot more emergency experience being a corpsman. What do you do you guys think?

Exactly the opposite. Unless you're a Special Forces medic, you will see far more on the civilian side than the military.

 

[RocketMedic]

Yeah I am 21 years old, so my options are open to pretty much anything, but in class I heard someone state that corpsman were doing emergency craniotomies to alleviate skull pressure in severe trauma out in the field. I suppose this is untrue? I was under the impression the corpsman had a lot more flexibility to medical procedures than paramedics but I must be way out of line because I have yet to see anyone mention this.

That is highly untrue. The only setting you would ever see that would be on a ship or in a forward aid station, and it would be done by a PA or MD.

 

[RocketMedic]

Another weird quirk of the military is that your training and scope of practice will literally vary by the unit you are in at the time. There is little internal consistency.

 

[zmedic]

A few things to consider:
1: The US military is pretty much out of Iraq and winding down combat operations in Afghanistan, so the stories you've heard of the crazy experience of some medics over the last few years probably won't be your experience. There will just be less wounded to treat over the next two years. So you could potentially spend a lot of your time on a base not seeing a whole lot of sick patients.

2: I'm all for following your dreams. But you should keep clear in your mind that the vast majority of those doing medicine in the military are not special forces. You have to get into SF first before you get all that training. So if you medical career revolves around becoming a SEAL medic you should think long are hard if you would be happy if you don't get into the seals are a regular medic.

3: The reason to join the military is because you want to be in the military. If you want to learn medicine there are a lot more direct routes. Ie paramedic school, PA school etc. Remember that the military medics spent part of their time learning medicine, part of their time learning all the rest what they need to be in the military (patrolling, shooting, regulations etc.) Nothing wrong with that. But don't look at the military as a shortcut to getting to where you want to be in medicine.