Paramedics egos

Anyone else notice they are majorly over inflated? Actually had one tell me they have more skill sets than a nurse HA

Paramedics and nurses have vastly different skill sets with some overlap. Each serves an important position in the overall health care picture.

At one time, RNs could point to a huge salary gap but not so much anymore. Paramedics routinely make 40-50 thousand dollars a year with more than $80 thousand possible with overtime.

Paramedics, EMTs, firefighters and other emergency services professionals are prone to bravado when young but most chill out as they develop more self confidence.

How do I know this? I am a retired paramedic working in his second career.

So, if you don;t like paramedics - tell them to leave when that drunk driver smashes your car into a phone pole. Ok?

Who said I don't like paramedics? Im a paramedic and rn duel licensed. Just irritates me. And any healthcare profession below that of a bachelors isn't difficult at all to obtain. If you can add two and two together, you can be a nurse or paramedic. Guarantee there's a school that will graduate you.

Just the skill sets ARE NOT comparable. Overall an RN has more skill sets.

Pissed off, I agree, I am also a nurse and have had one paramedic look down her nose at me and it infuriated me. I've been called to homes of friends because of something going wrong before the EMS or anyone else could get there and when they arrived, treated like pure crap! I was writing a list of medications for them to help save time and one grabbed it out of my hands and when I read the medication name to him, he couldn't even spell it. WOW, and they have the nerve to look down their noses.

I mean seriously. Icu nurse, er nurse, first assist surgical nurse, etc etc etc. Nurses can do pretty much anything a paramedic can do, reality check needed for a lot of them!

I as a paramedic am a little bothered by this thread. I work closely with doctors and nurses every day. Some are top notch and know their skills very well. Some not so much. I know some paramedics get what we call a god complex (paragod) but by far not all of us have it. But on the same token I know some nurses that are completely inept and should not be allowed anywhere near a patient. But to lump all paramedics this way is really wrong. As a dual (not duel, that is a fight) paramedic/rn I would think that you would be a bit more tolerent.

As for any career in healthcare below a bachelors degree being easy to aquire, you are correct. Just ask all the rn's with associate degrees. I am sure they appreciate how easy it was for them to get their degree. And now days most paramedics hold at least an associates degree. Especially if the have graduated in the last several years. I myself hold three degrees. One bachelors and two associates. Could I become a nurse or a doctor and go into the hospital to work. Yes I could. I chose not too because I feel I make the biggest difference in the field. Should I do it for the pay? No, I love my job and choose to be a paramedic.

As far as skill sets, yes they are different. But there are nurses that cannot do what even other nurses in the hospital can do. That is why to work as a cct nurse you have to have three years in the icu or ED. I have met nurses who couldn't do anything without orders written in triplicate from a doctor and the assistance of at least six others (an exageration of course, but I think you get the gist). I am sure all nurses as you have lumped them can intubate a patient, monitor and defib them, pace if necessary, push a variety of drugs, place a foley, do a surgical cric, place a chest tube, etc, etc.......and all without doctors orders. Believe it or not some paramedics can. There are a variety of differences in skills. This is true. But just because you have RN behind your name doesn't make you god either.

And for the nurses that pop up on scene and assist us. I have never been anything but nice to people that try to assist. But if I tell you I have it under control then I do. So many people wear scrubs and claim to be nurses now days it is sometimes hard to tell who is actually telling the truth. I have had more people than I can count on a scene claiming to be a emt, paramedic, nurse and even doctor. Unless I know you or there is some reason for me to believe that you are what you say you are then I will be polite but my partner and I will handle the call. After all it is our job to treat the patients on scene, it is your job to care for them once we get them to the hospital.

So I am sorry you have had some bad experiences but I would encourage you to not lump us all in the same pile.

Oh you got me! Lordy Lordy I must be an idiot because on topix my iPhone finished dual with duel! Lordy! And how do you know you can be an MD? Seems a bit presumptuous of you to assume having apparently never attended med school. Long story short, my first post was accurate; nurses can acquire a much larger skill set than paramedics. As for my earlier comment about it being easy to get into either entry level profession....nowadays you'd almost have to be retarded to not find a school that will graduate you.

Btw you chose not to....not too ^_- see how easy it is to point out nonsensical errors that mean nothing on a forum?......js

Oh and nothing against you. I personally think it is way too easy to become any entry level profession. The complete idiocy of 80% of the nurses I work with has comvinced me to go back to school for an engineering degree

Entry level healthcare profession*

One difference between paramedics and RNs is that paramedics practice medical care and most nurses practice nursing care. This is often a sore point between the specialties.

A large part of a medic's bravado is about where and how they practice their craft. Nursing is primarily done in a controlled environment. As a medic, I have had to initiate advanced directive in unusual, hazardous environments as other emergency professionals were extricating the victim.

Once you have mastered starting large bore IV's while hanging upside-down in a tangled mess of what used to be a tractor-trailer in the dark, in the rain at 3am - you are entitled to some amount of bravado.

The most important skill set involves being an effective problem solver. Of determining what is going on when life throws you patient scenarios outside of the book.

In 15 years in the field, I had been shot at, shit at, cursed, praised, appreciated, devalued and ignored - seemingly all in a single shift.

An effective paramedic is a force to reckoned with, as is an effective RN. Foe either to look down on the other shows a lack of maturity and self confidence.

I better end before I bore folks to death.

Please, if I ever need an emt or nurse, let it be one who has not just sat here patting herself or himself on the back for 80 paragraphs. Bragging and honoring oneself is not only reserved for emt's or nurses, it's dang near everybody now days! Teachers, coal miners, nurses and emt's, firefighters, you name it, I've seen it on Facebook! Everybody hollering respect me, brag on me, etc. well, it's true, everyone of those professions (and many more I didn't name) are important in helping this world go round but if they all choose to pat themselves on the back for their paid good deeds then that's all they're ever going to see out of it. God rewards the humble, but the boastful and prideful reward themselves by trying to gain pats on the backs and way to go's!

GeeWhiz wrote:

Please, if I ever need an emt or nurse, let it be one who has not just sat here patting herself or himself on the back for 80 paragraphs. Bragging and honoring oneself is not only reserved for emt's or nurses, it's dang near everybody now days! Teachers, coal miners, nurses and emt's, firefighters, you name it, I've seen it on Facebook! Everybody hollering respect me, brag on me, etc. well, it's true, everyone of those professions (and many more I didn't name) are important in helping this world go round but if they all choose to pat themselves on the back for their paid good deeds then that's all they're ever going to see out of it. God rewards the humble, but the boastful and prideful reward themselves by trying to gain pats on the backs and way to go's!

Agreed!!!

Why are all the paramedics around boone county so fat?

Pissed off wrote:

Oh and nothing against you. I personally think it is way too easy to become any entry level profession. The complete idiocy of 80% of the nurses I work with has comvinced me to go back to school for an engineering degree

I suggest civil engineering. I graduated cum laude with a with a bachelors degree. So yes I do believe I can do med school without much problem. Is it arrogance. No it is confidence. I have always been able to achieve anything I have set out to do because of drive and determination. I am sorry that you feel the way you do about paramedics. Maybe one day we will be able to rise to a level to get your respect. But in all honesty, I could care less. I have the highest respect for some nurses. But there is a hierarchy to that respect. I am glad you are not in that 80% of your peers that evidently you feel are idiots in the nursing field. Those are probably the ones that you look down upon because they still have some compassion for the job that they do. Obviously if are looking for a complete change of careers you need to get out of it. I do not know how long you have been a nurse but you obviously are bitter and disgruntled. Engineering would be a good choice. You have less dealings with idiots in the medical field and get to deal with a whole different set of them.

well wrote:

<quoted text> I suggest civil engineering. I graduated cum laude with a with a bachelors degree. So yes I do believe I can do med school without much problem. Is it arrogance. No it is confidence. I have always been able to achieve anything I have set out to do because of drive and determination. I am sorry that you feel the way you do about paramedics. Maybe one day we will be able to rise to a level to get your respect. But in all honesty, I could care less. I have the highest respect for some nurses. But there is a hierarchy to that respect. I am glad you are not in that 80% of your peers that evidently you feel are idiots in the nursing field. Those are probably the ones that you look down upon because they still have some compassion for the job that they do. Obviously if are looking for a complete change of careers you need to get out of it. I do not know how long you have been a nurse but you obviously are bitter and disgruntled. Engineering would be a good choice. You have less dealings with idiots in the medical field and get to deal with a whole different set of them.

Weren't you done just a post or two ago? Coming back to get a little more personal? And you just happen to also be an engineer? Errr okayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. You'll be a cowboy next!

Is your third degree interior design? Lol

Just curious.....what you you say the problem with this is;
http://heart.bmj.com/content/86/1/e3/F1.large...

What would you*