That got your attention didn't it?
Rather than hijack another thread on what it takes a nurse to work in the prehospital environment, I thought we could talk about it here?
Let us agree that working in the prehospital environment is not a part of fundamental nursing education.
Let us also agree that it takes extra education and training to work in the prehospital environment.
Let us now quantify what that means exactly?
In my home state, the law requires a minimum of 750 hours for paramedic education. Most places do not require a prereq A&P and add 2-4 weeks of (2) 4hour classes per week in order to meet this need.
For the benefit of the doubt, let's call it 4. that is 32 hours of A&P education.
Increasing this paramedic benefit, let us assume that a third 4 hour lab day is also scheduled during this 4 week period. (an additional 16 hours)
This brings out total to 750+48=798 hours of paramedic education.
Let's just arbitrarily add another 102 hours to cover the recent curriculum increases and make it an even 900?
Next, let us make mandatory ACLS, PALS, and PHTLS. (or ITLS if you like that better.) either way, 48 hours.
This is normally taught during the basic paramedic hours and not in addition to it, so we are down to 852 hours of paramedic education. (including clinical time)
Now in these 852 hours remaining, 4 hours per week are dedicated lab skills time. Then, 852 hours/12 hours per week gives us: 71 weeks of class.
(1) 4 hour lab day for 71 weeks= 284 hours of labratory skills.
852-284= 568 hours.
568/2= 284. (which from the math stad point is really convenient to say that 50% of paramedic class is clinicals, but the truth is, it is really only about 1/3.) Which means 347 hours of that is classroom learning. (rounded to the nearest hour for my convenience and poor math skills)
Leaving ~221 hours of clinical time.
221 hours of clinicals +284 hours of lab skills, 505 hours of a 900 hour paramedic course. (Because we generously added 102 hours arbitrarily, so the actual total is 798 for medic and A&P, 798 hours/12 hours is 66.5 weeks of class. 66.5 times 4 hours for once a week lab is: 266 hours of lab. Bringing non lab medic and clinicals to 532 hours. 2/3rd of that is 351 hours of didactic and 181 hours of clinicals so, 266lab +181 clinicals hours= 447, 351 out of 798 hour is clasroom instruction of an actual course.)
Let us go back to the 900 hour course and the 505 hours?
So... Assuming nurses can start an IV and give IV, IM, and SQ injections, let us subtract the 3 lab classes usually reserved for that (12 hours.)
505-12= 494 hours.
Now we have a dilemma, we can either subtract the 150 hours of EMT-B and the skills taught there for ease, or we can actually map out every hours paramedics spend on EMT-B skills.
Let us just simply subtract 150?
494-150= 343.
343 lab hours-221 hours of clinicals, equal 121 hours of lab.
iF we did this for 12 hours a week in a nurse to medic bridge program (4 hours 3x a week) we would be done with the lab part in 10 weeks. If we made (2) 8 hours days a week it would be 7.5 weeks. If we really go all out and make it a 40 hour week, it takes 3 weeks.
Now we are left with 221 hours of clinicals to cope with.
Nurses do clinicals in their education. Perhaps with the exception of the ED and definately not on the truck. But many paramedic clinicals are in nursing environments. So that makes breaking this number down a bit tricky.
If we make them repeat all the medic clinical hours, (3) 4 hours days a week)
221/12 18.41 weeks.
18.41 weeks + 7.5 weeks 25 week course.
(but this could also be concurrent with the lab days, still giving them 1 total day off and 6 days a week of class/clinical) roughly 18 weeks or 1 semester.
If we do a total of 60 hours per week, full time + part time, (40 hours lab +20 hours clinical) we now finish in about 11 weeks.
But if we give them 1/2 credit for clinicals, 110 hours clinical + 121 lab is 231 hours. (less than the 240 pro firefighter class) and at 40 hours a week, we will be done in 5.77 or simply 6 weeks.
At 60 hours, just shy of 4 weeks.
If said nurse already had ACLS, PALS, and PHTLS, it could be done even faster.
If the nurse was given credit for all previous clinical and had the alphabet soup courses, you are looking at 2-3 weeks tops.
That bridge program doesn't look like it really adds anything to me that couldn't be replicated by a 2 week pre-truck orientation and another couple of weeks of FTO period. For a total OTJ of 4-6 weeks max.
Rather than hijack another thread on what it takes a nurse to work in the prehospital environment, I thought we could talk about it here?
Let us agree that working in the prehospital environment is not a part of fundamental nursing education.
Let us also agree that it takes extra education and training to work in the prehospital environment.
Let us now quantify what that means exactly?
In my home state, the law requires a minimum of 750 hours for paramedic education. Most places do not require a prereq A&P and add 2-4 weeks of (2) 4hour classes per week in order to meet this need.
For the benefit of the doubt, let's call it 4. that is 32 hours of A&P education.
Increasing this paramedic benefit, let us assume that a third 4 hour lab day is also scheduled during this 4 week period. (an additional 16 hours)
This brings out total to 750+48=798 hours of paramedic education.
Let's just arbitrarily add another 102 hours to cover the recent curriculum increases and make it an even 900?
Next, let us make mandatory ACLS, PALS, and PHTLS. (or ITLS if you like that better.) either way, 48 hours.
This is normally taught during the basic paramedic hours and not in addition to it, so we are down to 852 hours of paramedic education. (including clinical time)
Now in these 852 hours remaining, 4 hours per week are dedicated lab skills time. Then, 852 hours/12 hours per week gives us: 71 weeks of class.
(1) 4 hour lab day for 71 weeks= 284 hours of labratory skills.
852-284= 568 hours.
568/2= 284. (which from the math stad point is really convenient to say that 50% of paramedic class is clinicals, but the truth is, it is really only about 1/3.) Which means 347 hours of that is classroom learning. (rounded to the nearest hour for my convenience and poor math skills)
Leaving ~221 hours of clinical time.
221 hours of clinicals +284 hours of lab skills, 505 hours of a 900 hour paramedic course. (Because we generously added 102 hours arbitrarily, so the actual total is 798 for medic and A&P, 798 hours/12 hours is 66.5 weeks of class. 66.5 times 4 hours for once a week lab is: 266 hours of lab. Bringing non lab medic and clinicals to 532 hours. 2/3rd of that is 351 hours of didactic and 181 hours of clinicals so, 266lab +181 clinicals hours= 447, 351 out of 798 hour is clasroom instruction of an actual course.)
Let us go back to the 900 hour course and the 505 hours?
So... Assuming nurses can start an IV and give IV, IM, and SQ injections, let us subtract the 3 lab classes usually reserved for that (12 hours.)
505-12= 494 hours.
Now we have a dilemma, we can either subtract the 150 hours of EMT-B and the skills taught there for ease, or we can actually map out every hours paramedics spend on EMT-B skills.
Let us just simply subtract 150?
494-150= 343.
343 lab hours-221 hours of clinicals, equal 121 hours of lab.
iF we did this for 12 hours a week in a nurse to medic bridge program (4 hours 3x a week) we would be done with the lab part in 10 weeks. If we made (2) 8 hours days a week it would be 7.5 weeks. If we really go all out and make it a 40 hour week, it takes 3 weeks.
Now we are left with 221 hours of clinicals to cope with.
Nurses do clinicals in their education. Perhaps with the exception of the ED and definately not on the truck. But many paramedic clinicals are in nursing environments. So that makes breaking this number down a bit tricky.
If we make them repeat all the medic clinical hours, (3) 4 hours days a week)
221/12 18.41 weeks.
18.41 weeks + 7.5 weeks 25 week course.
(but this could also be concurrent with the lab days, still giving them 1 total day off and 6 days a week of class/clinical) roughly 18 weeks or 1 semester.
If we do a total of 60 hours per week, full time + part time, (40 hours lab +20 hours clinical) we now finish in about 11 weeks.
But if we give them 1/2 credit for clinicals, 110 hours clinical + 121 lab is 231 hours. (less than the 240 pro firefighter class) and at 40 hours a week, we will be done in 5.77 or simply 6 weeks.
At 60 hours, just shy of 4 weeks.
If said nurse already had ACLS, PALS, and PHTLS, it could be done even faster.
If the nurse was given credit for all previous clinical and had the alphabet soup courses, you are looking at 2-3 weeks tops.
That bridge program doesn't look like it really adds anything to me that couldn't be replicated by a 2 week pre-truck orientation and another couple of weeks of FTO period. For a total OTJ of 4-6 weeks max.
