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In order to answer this question you need to define the terms "profession" and "organisation". I would submit that while I have met many people in EMS whom act in a professional manner, we are a vocation and not yet a profession. Our barriers to entry at both the paramedic and EMT levels are quite low. We have little control over the direction of changes in clinical care, and ultimately report to EM/Cardiology. There may be countries where the move towards professionalisation is more advanced, e.g. some parts of Aus/NZ where Bachelor's degree entry-to-practice is becoming the norm, or the UK with their consultant paramedic and paramedic practitoner roles, parts of Scandinavia where the paramedics are essentially nurse-practitioners, or the countries where EMS is provided at the advanced level by specialist physicians. I doubt anyone would argue that an anesthetist working on a French SAMU ambulance meets the traditional definition of a professional, for instance. We talk a good game in EMS about how professional we are, but when you can become an EMT in less than six months, and most paramedics have less education than a plumber, it's not that meaningful. This isn't a slam on the vocation/occupation, more a recognition of the opportunity for growth and transformation. ** Or a slam on plumbers, who intermittently stop my house from flooding. But if all we define professional as, is someone who makes money from a specific job, then "professional paramedic" may mean little more than "professional exotic dancer".

is anyone surprised at the not guilty verdict? And here comes the civil trial. This will be a completely different story.

Another update... http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-live-verdict-in-kelly-thomas-police-murder-case-20140113,0,5661959.story#axzz2qKI9CuI2

Here is a cool 12 lead trick I wanted to share with you guys.

To be fair to our new friend, having a job to support oneself during any kind of academic undertaking is a good thing so long as a balance between the two can be maintained. So let's not discourage the resourcefulness being contemplated here. Now, that being said, being an EMT to support oneself during nursing school may need some additional research. EMTs are a dime a dozen and wages reflect that. Depending on your financial situation surviving nursing school on only an EMT income will be difficult. Please make sure your research includes the availability, stability and compensation of EMT jobs in your area if you decide to pursue that route. As has been mentioned, working as an EMT will give you absolutely no indication of what working as an RN in the ER is like. If you managed to get an ER tech job with your EMT certification you will probably get a good idea of how an ER operates. You'll certainly get more exposure to nurses and the work they do than you would as an EMT on an ambulance. But you still won't really know what it's like to work in an ER as a RN. If you are attempting to earn an RN license please base that license on a BSN level education. Hospitals increasingly are not hiring ADN educated RNs. I'm not sure about JCAHO but Magnet certification pushes hospitals to hire BSN educated nurses. ADN educated nurses are finding it harder and harder to find jobs. ADN educated nurses who have jobs are finding it harder to either keep their job or move up without at least a BSN education. Now, once you earn an RN license (hopefully with a BSN behind your name), you'll be able to do an awful lot of nursing even without an EMS background. Nursing is not EMS based. Nursing dabbles, in some ways, in EMS. But nursing is nursing. Earn your stripes as a nurse and you will be able to do anything you want. Want to be a trauma nurse? Go for it. You don't need an EMS background to work trauma. Want to work in the ICU? Go for it. You won't need an EMS background for that, either. Want to work in an ER? You don't need an EMS background for that, either. You will need to put in your time as a nurse working in a med surg capacity (this seems to be coming back for new grads from what I can gather) before you can expand into other areas. But you can get there. Please keep in mind that this discussion is not any attempt to discourage you. Comments relayed here so far are based on years of experience and knowledge. And keep in mind your EMT instructor was probably just attempting to butter you up. Unless s/he is an ER nurse what does s/he know about it? Get where I'm going? As you've seen here we all have some pretty strong opinions about things. You've also got a pretty wide expanse of experience just in this discussion alone. Don't think we're trying to discourage you. We just like to call things like we see it and sometimes our attempts to correct misconceptions can be, well, blunt. If this is really what you want and the path you want to take then do it. Please understand that we aren't trying to discourage that. There are several ways to get there. Some are better than others. Those better ways are what we're trying to encourage.