Leaderboard

According to the prescribing info, if you look under "dosage and administration," it says it is administered "intramuscularly or subcutaneously into the anterolateral aspect of the thigh." Think about it. In most people it will be IM, but there are many people that need a much longer needle to make it IM so it will end up SQ.

^ This. End of story. We all agree that it takes experience to become a competent provider. Nobody disagrees with that, so focus on the point here. What we are arguing -- for reasons beyond me -- is whether that experience should come before or after the student has obtained a didactic foundation from which to manage that experience. And I really can't believe that any intelligent professional would think that the vulnerable, sick and injured people who trust us with their lives, should serve as the Guinea Pigs for 3-week basics to experiment with to determine if they are really interested or not. That is absolutely criminal thinking. And, as already made abundantly clear, there is no chance of most basics getting a real EMS job to get that experience, even if they wanted to. That's why half the posts on any forum are n00bs complaining that they can't get a job. And NO, you guys running private transfers for three years before medic school are NOT getting EMS experience, so get over yourselves.

Yes, there is. But is a horrible choice for any medic who does not have significant in-hospital experience, and I don't mean as a simple ER tech. There is actually very little crossover education between the two jobs. So, except for already having your support courses out of the way, there is no significant benefit to being a medic before being a nurse. They are usually very separate career paths for a good reason. They really are not very similar at all. Any one who tells you different has not been both a medic and a nurse, and in that order. Most "bridge" programmes are community college based, not university based. Consequently you start off behind the 8-ball even if you manage to graduate. They get you through a little bit faster, but usually because they cram, not because they cut back much. And it still takes you at least two years to get all your support courses done, if you didn't do so in your paramedic programme. So, if you just get the cheap and quick paramedic certificate instead of the degree, then you don't save any time at all. Bridges are a desperate concession in a vain attempt to help make money for community colleges, not a genuine effort to educate competent nurses. If you're not concerned with competence, then go for it. But most all of the grads I have worked with had gaping holes in both their knowledge and competence, because years as a medic left them with the mistaken impression that we don't need all that book learnin', so they don't commit to it. If you think you may want to do both, then it is absolutely certain that going to nursing school BEFORE medic school results in a much better provider than the reverse. Not to mention the difference in job opportunities. Most EMT grads find they cant get an EMS job even if they do become a medic, as your schools are cranking out hundreds more grads than there are jobs in the area. Don't expect to hear that truth in the school catalogue. It's our dirty little secret. Do some serious job market research before you commit. Even if you can get an EMS job, chances are that it's neither stable nor well paying.