Any one an ER Tech? EMT-P as RN Nurses?

[EMS-Cat]

I've worked places where the RTs did the emergency intubations right alongside the Docs and were the ones responsible for the ECGs inhouse.

Each place is different...

[doubledog8]

I'm currently an ER Tech at a busy Level 2 trauma center in my city. My duties: Vitals, 12-lead EKGs, blood draws, splints/dressings, transports, setting up sterile procedure trays (suture, I&D, lumbar puncture), assist as a member of the trauma/code team, as well as assisting the RNs or the docs as needed. The pay's respectable. My goal is to work on the streets full-time, though. In the meantime, however, the ER has proven to be invaluable experience for me.

[speedygodzilla]

I'm currently an ER Tech at a busy Level 2 trauma center in my city. My duties: Vitals, 12-lead EKGs, blood draws, splints/dressings, transports, setting up sterile procedure trays (suture, I&D, lumbar puncture), assist as a member of the trauma/code team, as well as assisting the RNs or the docs as needed. The pay's respectable. My goal is to work on the streets full-time, though. In the meantime, however, the ER has proven to be invaluable experience for me.

That is pretty much what I do, and some of it I will be doing. The ER is a invaluable experience for me too, however I really want to get out on the streets also.

[ccmedoc]

Hey, this "advance your education and become an RN" is bull. I have been a ccmedic,flight medic, and am currently an RN in an innercity hospital E.D. with my MSN..I believe that the correct attitude should be change your way of thinking. I dont believe that nursing school, especially A.D.N. programs prepare an individual better for patient care, only differently. The National Registry is modeled loosly after the nursing curriculum and we do a suprising amount of "nursing" in the field. If taking orders from docs and charting is nursing, then I guess I missed the boat. Good paramedics are a rare breed and shouldn't be seen as anybody's "bitch". I was a medic before nursing school, and I believe that this made my nursing ed. very uneventful and somewhat boreing. The new medic curriculum prepares students much better than in the past, and that is the difference. In the past, medic may have been of suspicious quality, depending on location (6 month medic programs and no licensure exam), but recently the bar has been raised. As an MSN RN and a CCEMT-P, I believe it would be very difficult for a nurse to step into a medic job, but a much smoother transition to go medic to RN. Just my short opinion on a subject that could be and has been covered in volumes.. Respect each other and be safe!!

[Scaramedic]

Let's cut the the "how do medics work in the er" or "who makes a better caregiver" and "who's education is better" debates.

What it comes down to is money. Locally a Medic in the ER starts at $19, an RN starts at $30. Career advancement for a Medic in a hospital is nill yet career advancement for an RN is limitless, especially BSN's.

If you want to play Nurse in the ER, get the degree and make them pay you what you deserve. Medics in the ER are seen by management as a cheap replacement for RN's plain and simple. This is the reason many Nursing unions had tantrums when Medics were introduced into the ER. The Oregon Nurses Association actually went to the state Attorney General to try and block Medics working in the ER. He shot them down and since the RN shortage is at uber levels they have not re-introduced it, yet.

If you want to work in the ER as a side job thats different but if you plan on making it a career go to Nursing school, like I am.

Peace,

Marty

[ccmedoc]

I agree with scaramedic and ,although it was not my intention to do so, I apologize for being drawn into comparison of RN to medic. My original intent was to illuminate the fact that the two professions augment each other as opposed to compete with each other and should be seen as two seperate and very different professions with very different intent of purpose. It is a shame that the disparity in pay amounts to a peice of paper known as a degree instead of proven skills, but so be it.. To make the money and function in the ED, nursing school should be your initial step in school, nothing less (CNA,LPN, etc). Good luck in both as they are both very noble and rewarding professions with growing opportunities for advancement in each of their prospective communities..

-Steve

[scott33]

In the ER my title is Paramedic and the hospital basically has us function as RNs, I have assigned rooms and can utilize all skill sets that the state allows me to use.

Does this include Placing NG tubes, Foley catheters, infusion of blood products, TPA administration, conscious sedation, and (in some places) radial artery sticks for ABGs???