RN Course

Emtjohn

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what are your thoughts on going to RN school while waiting to get on with fire and waiting for experience to go to p-school. could bridge to p-school after rn.
 
RN school isn't a merit badge you pick up along the way. Unless you've got a bachelors and all your ducks in a row for an ABSN, chances are you can get your experience AND be done with paramedic school in less time that it will take you to get INTO a RN program.

Unless you are in a state that allwos direct challenge of paramedic, RN->P bridge programs are going to require you to have years of ED/ICU experience.

If you want to be a fire medic, then go that route. RN will delay you. You can do RN later.

If you want to be an RN, go that route and work EMS on the side.
 
+1 on what Summit said.

What is your current educational Background?

ADN is ~ 2 years and BSN is ~ 4 years. In many areas getting your ADN isn't really worth much unless you plan on working LTC/SNF.

Most areas also have a waiting list for BSN programs. It is not uncommon to have a 1-3 semester wait after applying and being accepted.
 
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With all the prerequisites that must be done prior to getting into RN school, an ADN takes more like 4 years and a BSN more like 5 or 6. Because I had a Bachelors prior to considering RN, going BSN vs ADN would have been simply a matter of 5 semesters vs 4.
 
I agree.
 
RN and Medic (and fire fighter) are all different jobs. If you want to be on with fire, focus on that. Having your RN will not make you more employable as a FF, having your medic will.
 
Going to RN school while waiting to get into Paramedic school is a bit like going to law school while waiting to take a paralegal course, or going to medical school while waiting to get into a PA program. It makes no sense.
 
Going to RN school while waiting to get into Paramedic school is a bit like going to law school while waiting to take a paralegal course, or going to medical school while waiting to get into a PA program. It makes no sense.

I probably wouldn't take the analogy quite that far, but I agree that you could probably get paramedic school done a lot sooner than RN school.

If you want to be both an RN and a paramedic, I'd apply to P schools now while also starting to work on your RN school pre-reqs.

If you just want to be as a firefighter or a fire medic, forget RN school altogether. Nursing isn't something you do just to pass the time. It's far too big of a commitment and far too different from what you really want to do.
 
I probably wouldn't take the analogy quite that far, but I agree that you could probably get paramedic school done a lot sooner than RN school.

If you want to be both an RN and a paramedic, I'd apply to P schools now while also starting to work on your RN school pre-reqs.

If you just want to be as a firefighter or a fire medic, forget RN school altogether. Nursing isn't something you do just to pass the time. It's far too big of a commitment and far too different from what you really want to do.
I'm doing both... and I actually would prefer NOT to be a firefighter. Trust me (and others) when I say that being a FF/P while going to RN school is a recipe for disaster. You will have to find a way to maintain a specific shift every week while in RN school so that you can attend class and clinical. Given that Firefighter shift schedules aren't built that way, that can be a massive undertaking that requires a LOT of agreements between individual firefighters on every shift. You won't be able to afford the time off (16 weeks at a time, twice a year) to do it and they'd probably not approve that much time off.

You're far better off going to P school while getting prerequisites out of the way for RN school if you're planning on becoming BOTH an RN and Paramedic. Otherwise, pick one route and go all out for it.
 
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