Medics that went on to RN...

[OKparamurse]

So as the title says, I made the leap to RN after 10 years in EMS about a year ago (one year in May). I know there's quite a few people here who have made that same jump, I'm just curious because I know a lot of you have done it years ago - Where are you now? Are you still in traditional nursing in a hospital? Pursued mid-level status? Back in the pre-hospital world with flight or CCT? Decided nursing sucks and went back to Paramedic? Just curious what the future looks like after making the change. I'd love to hear all your stories, experiences, and advice, good or bad.

 

[FiremanMike]

My current plan - start my ER job as soon as I’m licensed and stay there part time while working full time at the FD until I hit 25 years in my pension system in about 42 months.

While still working I’ll do my RN to BSN in my downtime and also work on my CEN and probably CCRN. My long term goal is to go to NP school, although I’m still not positive what practice environment I want to work (stuck between ER, hospital medicine, and psych).

What have you been doing? What’s your plan?

 

[Akulahawk]

I'm a bit less "traditional" in that I did Paramedic for quite a while, took a multi-year break doing Security/Public Safety, and returned to the healthcare field doing Nursing. I've been working as an RN for about 7 years now and I'm coming up on my 5 year anniversary at my current hospital. I'm planning to start doing BSN in the near future, perhaps go for CEN/CCRN as well and maybe pursue NP down the road. I'm also giving some consideration to returning PRN to the street as a medic or ground CCT-RN.

Right now, I do relief Charge RN and I do ultrasound IV placements, including some longer lines that require a guidewire to ensure good placement, in addition to my usual stuff in the ED. I can do pretty much every RN job in the ED from triage to Charge RN, though I'm better at some things than others. Usually I get put in Triage because it more easily enables me to flex to doing ultrasound lines anywhere in the hospital, as long as there's another triage-capable RN to fill-in for the time I'm away.

 

[spimx]

My next step is RN. Flight paramedic, Critical care and my bachelors in emergency health science was a waste of time. I wont do anything anymore unless it involves money. Higher education is a joke right now and very expensive, for me to pay for more school there better be a return on the investment, most of the classes are online and most of the answers are on chegg.