Nursing school was easy for me but I went in 2002
I now work as an EMT, I was one semester of clinicals away when I realized I would go crazy under the thumb of 10 bosses, behind brick walls 40+hours a week so I got a non-clinical BS instead.
"No One DOR's their final week!..." LOL, could not resist the O&G '82 movie reference...anyways, that is quite odd you would just not finish that final semester based on inaccurate information. So close to having a RN degree, yet tossing it to the side based on flawed perceptions. Methinks there is more to the story (there always is...), however that was way back in 2002, so recall may be a bit fuzzy these days. That's cool...however, what is not cool is the level and amount of disinformation you spew without even A) being a RN or B) not even being a Paramedic. So sadly, you do not know what you do not know. And THAT is more embarrassing for us, the Medical Professionals. You might be embarrassed some day, right now, not so much due to the safety of the Ivory Tower.
I prefer fieldwork even if it's hard. Paramedic school is hard because of the level they want you to be practicing when you leave. Nursing school is more of an overview...and a good three months of my clinicals were wasted on dumb things like cleaning rooms and changing bedpans (hopefully their are programs out there that don't waste time on dumb crap like this). We use urinals and bedpans in an ambulance but we never had to train to use them because it's not rocket science. From what I understand Medic school is intense the entire time...your going to start off doing big things right away so you better be ready there is also a lot you are expected to memorize and learn on your own (interpreting 12 leads is boring to me but some people love it).
Paramedic school really is not that hard, the caveat being that the school itself is the unknown. So YOU, as a non-paramedic are speaking about how paramedic school is hard. Interesting, and how many have you attended in order to make this assessment and draw a comparison? You could be in a school which hammers the fundamentals, strong A&P, Bio/Micro, etc and then relates all that body science to the skills and tasks you will perform, or you could be in a program that teaches "if you see X then give one brown box every 3-5mins...". Personally, I strongly advocate for degree/community college paramedic programs simply in an effort to collectively boost the EMS profession as a whole.
All that I said above about Paramedic programs also applies to Nursing programs. My experience has been complete opposite of your claim. If you were stuck cleaning rooms, changing bedpans, emptying urinals for three months, either your program needs an overhaul or that is simply the level your preceptors deemed you capable of. Regardless, those dumb skills are actually essential to nursing. Why? Knowing the patient's bowel habits, knowing their amounts of waste, color, smell, consistency, etc...are all extremely relevant to a host of conditions and are often good indicators of ongoing care or treatment. Dealing with patient's bowel movements are also a level of intensity that some may not be able to handle and interacting with a patient, questioning them about their elimination, maintaining rapport and overcoming their discomfort and your own is essential to nursing care. You are developing communication, assessment and diagnostic skills...all with a bedpan full of poo. Crazy right?
And let's not forget, that although these are very "basic" skills and seemingly a waste of time, it is a good reminder that no matter what level of RN you obtain, if you are in the clinical setting...you WILL continue to clean rooms, clean patients, and empty bedpans or urinals throughout your career, especially in the ICU setting, but almost always on Med Surg or LTC. Yep, there are CNA,s however they are not always available and you advocating for your patient will do what needs to be done. Sad you missed this lesson a la Miyagi style (another 80s reference).
You then state in Medic school you start off doing big things right away...not really. You most likely revisit the basics, then learn new knowledge and skills, then start applying. Again, I ask, how do you know the intensity level? "Learn on your own"...technically in any prrofession, whether it be plumbing, electrical, Paramedic, RN, whatever...there is learning on your own. There ALWAYS should be learning on your own with your initial education and then ongoing throughout your career. Unsure what you are trying to prove or disprove here. Awesome you think 12 leads are boring...that statement alone proves how little you value that information presented from that piece of paper. I hope you are competent interpreting these 12 leads at your EMT level. Typically when one finds something "boring" or unnecessary, it is due to the fact they do not understand what they are seeing, hearing, or assessing...basically, a lack of knowledge so they then dismiss it.
Some Medic schools are only 12 weeks. If you are talking about the number of diagnostics tools learned, nurses have way more to learn about (ICU/ER) but they don't typically interpret like Medics do.
Really? Are you intentionally this ignorant? At what point do you think nurses do not interpret? What are you basing this on?
I have heard most nurses learn the majority of work after starting a job.
This is one statement of semi-truth. Nurses spend 2-4 years in pursuit of their ADN or BSN, and there is only so much you can teach within that time frame. It is MEDICINE...learning is forever ongoing. So yes, initial education focuses on producing a SAFE, NOVICE Nurse. You do learn a broad scope of the basics and then when you start a job as a Graduate Nurse or if you land in an immediate RN role, you will have a huge learning curve. Some of this is due to the facility having different scope, policy, or procedures. Some of the curve is due to you are now applying all that you know while trying to learn more in a 36 hour a week setting as opposed to the one 12 hour clinical day per week you had while in school (or whatever your program offered).
Guess what? The same statement applies to Paramedics! I learned way more stuff in my first 3 years or so as a Paramedic than I ever did in class. So "we" are not immune to the learning more in the first year process anymore than the next person/profession. Paramedic school gave me the basic knowledge to pull from then I had to see quantity, call after call, to build a data of references to pull from in order to apply or not apply what I had learned.
So now for the cost...obviously Nursing school is the better pay off...thats why you shouldn't waste your money as a medic if your not sure you want to do it. Get a job as an EMT or ER Tech first than decide. That would be the best route. Medics/EMTs must be good at investigating a problem and getting an initial diagnosis. The information that is provided to the ER shapes care from the moment a report is given (that's been proven). We decide what information to communicate (what is applicable what is not). We have to investigate the scene/history and we are utilizing this to help form a diagnosis so it's important to be confident in the diagnostics aspects.
Yes, we will make a field diagnosis in order to decide what to do or not do within our scope. Yes, we provide what we think is relevant in our radio report and then in our face to face handover. However, there have been times where I have dismissed something I thought was insignificant and it was completely relevant to the hospital. Drop your ego dude...medicine is a team sport. And if you think all follow on care is based on your report and assessment, you are mistaken. Each professional/provider who comes into contact with that patient is assessing, info sharing, reshaping the treatment plan.
Please link me to your sources on the "That's been proven" statement. I would like to independently review these for my own knowledge.
