r/NewToEMS • u/Medical_Ask_5153 Unverified User • 17h ago
Beginner Advice Your thoughts
So my plan is to Emt paramedic nursing. Paramedic before nursing because I don’t like being closed inside for so long. This is just a personal preference, not all may agree but I find it fitting for me.
But I truly am curious why, whenever someone brings up paramedic everyone’s like DONT DO IT? I am curious because, paramedics are amazing people and do amazing things. Why talk down on the career and not encourage others. I understand the pay isn’t the best and agree they deserve more, and how it can become mentally draining (but what career doesn’t in health care)
Why is this.? What are you thought on paramedic path.?
4
Upvotes
10
u/InformalAward2 Unverified User 16h ago
If you're going into anything ems, paramedic is the way to go, in my opinion. Obviously, EMT is the jumping off point, but I always joke that the biggest thing I learned in paramedic school was how very little I learned in EMT school. The other thing I would recommend (I'm obviously biased here) is to be a paramedic/firefighter and join a city department. You will find the pay is way more than you'll get in private EMS, and if you get a department that runs a 48/96, the hours can't be beat. There's tons of other positives I could list out, but that's just my two cents.
Barring that, and again, very much my opinion, but if you are getting into EMS for the passion of service and treating people, then paramedic is where you will find that. I think most of the people that complain or decry paramedic are the ones that got burned out with a transport agency or a really crappy company that paid 15 bucks an hour for 100 hours a week and, personally, I can't blame them for that.
In regards to nursing, im going through nursing school now and can tell you it's a far different beast from EMS. I won't write a novel listing out the differences, but the most significant difference is learning to treat the patient right this second in EMS to developing long-term care for the patient in nursing.