coram

Hey there, Glad to see I'm not the only one having that issue. I can say this, I have my RN degree back home and currently still work as a casual nurse, but am currently doing my medic course. It's pretty easy, in fact I haven't reallty opened my text much. My suggestion to you, is to complete your RN program and then challenge your medic license. U should have no probklem. The only difference I've made note of is the trauma aspect which typically isn't discussed in nursing. It probably seems lengthy to spend four years at school, but you'll have way more career options open to you, including Critical Care Transport teams and all that good stuff. Back home, I can't challenge the medic exam which is just stupid, but I can kinda see their point. In New Brunswick our flight nurses and medics are paid the same and it's quite a bit less then hospital nurses. So depending where you live it's probably different. Check out the differences in the scope of practices of both fields and use that as part of your decision as well. Typically nurses have slightly different skills on an air service, then medics. It's not bad but that might help too. As far as education, typically they like our nurses to have at least 5 years work experience in either ER or ICU areas before accpeting them to air care. Hope this helps, Amy

Nurses aren't evil creatures I promise. But, they do lack an understanding, for the most part, of what a medic's job entails. Back home, some nurses still believe that our medics are solely ambulance drivers; that they have a poor understanding of A & P and so on. We are noticing this as higher qualified medics are assuming some pretty techinical skills that normally were never seen in the ems before. We have ACP's that are going to shake things up around here as they enter their hospital practicum. As they will be performing skills that typically are reserved for md's or icu nurses. Most of all, Be confident, concise and don't argue with the nurse, you'll never win, whether you're right or wrong. By the way, food never hurts. especially chocolate or sweets.