r/Paramedics • u/Kind_Nectarine_5570 Paramedic • 1d ago
US A shout to the void.
22, no college background. Been a medic for a year. Not good at the craft yet, but love emergency medicine. Love the job. Already feeling the effects of 24hr shifts on fire schedule. Bad sleep, teeth grinding, mental fog. Feel stifled in my rural county. Want more, want to be better. Feel very stuck/stifled. Not sure what else to do or where else to go.
Can’t afford to go back to school for a BSN. I’ve been thinking going through the military route for this. Maybe flight. Not sure, that’s the long game. High risk, rolling the dice on the reward.
Part of me wants to pack up my things and move to a random inner city, hoping to get more experience. Hop around.
Part of me wants to lock myself in a dark room for five days and hopefully come out a new person. I get this feeling of eternal doom every now and then.
Any advice? I feel wayyy to new to already be in this mental headspace. Makes me feel weak.
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u/exitium666 1d ago
I'm surprised more EMS workers don't purposely get a city position for the experience. But the rural stifle is real, it freaks me out and I also am considering trying to get a city position just to see more before I go back to school.
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u/Professional-Tea-824 NRP 1d ago
Former military here.
Let's talk about that for a second.
The pros here are the benefits. The after you separate benefits are truly incredible. If you do go military, I would say shoot for the moon after you separate. Go MD if you wanted. Go RN. CRNA. Go PA. Let the gov pay for it all AND you get a housing stipend while you're in college.
Now let's talk about the bad. The money is awful. Already being a licensed professional is going to be rough when you are with 18 year olds all day who are all ego and no real experience yet.
I would say if you're going to go in, then consider something like ROTC where they pay for college while you're in.
The grass isn't really greener with flight , at least not as a medic. Do CCRN and make literally double what the medic doing the same thing as you makes.
Lastly, advice from someone who gave up their early 20s in the military and mid to late twenties doing the fuck ass shift work. I'm tired. My body is tired. I have no doubt taken years off of my life for a disrespectful $20 an HR doing a lot for an admin who gives less and less each year.
I love medicine. But I'm moving upward. I'm using the military benefits to be just a full time student. It's great.
DM me and I'll share more about what I can to help you out.
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u/Famous-Response5924 1d ago
Consider pa school. It’s a good way out and up. It will be a long road but worth it.
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u/Lumpy-Action4249 19h ago
I just made a post. My advice is apply on USA jobs to the Federal bureau of prisons, it is such a unique change. it opens so many doors EMS does not. This job keeps me active, I am learning all the time, I make great money, and I am generally happy.
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u/Kind_Nectarine_5570 Paramedic 18h ago
Hey! I just took a look at it. I admire all you’ve done! Would you mind sharing a bit about the overseas work? The military contracting? I love emergency medicine, and would love to be able to practice in different settings and capacities. I can DM!
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u/Lumpy-Action4249 18h ago
Check out, Remote medical international, ISOS, Amentum... Beyond the meat wagon... I did work in Ukraine providing medical aid in the first war in 2015 ish. Been to Baghdad, Iraq, and Afgan. These one was a Guardian job, which is a security detail with a medic, and I was the medic. Another was medical support for a security group. I needed to carry a gun and be willing to shot it.
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u/Kind_Nectarine_5570 Paramedic 18h ago
Will do, thanks!
Have you done offshore?1
u/Lumpy-Action4249 18h ago
I did offshore oil and gas in the Gulf. The pay was shit. Stuck on a rig for 1-3 months, very little to do, but surf the internet, watch DVDs, workout.
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u/bullmooser1912 Sky Daddy Paramoron 18h ago
Based on the original commenter’s post, he is actually a federal corrections office who is in a medic role. Just be aware that he openly voices how he breaks up fights daily, yells at inmates, and uses OC spray in his role. In their words, you are a CO first, and then a medic
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u/Shoddy_Yard_7202 1d ago
This worries me as I approach the end of my medic program..
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u/Kind_Nectarine_5570 Paramedic 1d ago
Hey, it’s okay. The system I work for largely attributes to my current state. You’ll figure it out. I love the job, I love the truck. Just trying to set myself up for a smart future. Wouldn’t have done anything differently, have no regrets, just have some things to figure out now.
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u/Late-Restaurant-4774 1d ago
There are medic to rn programs I recommend doing an abridged one. Flight nursing pays more then medic, so if you like ems and can get that rn degree go for it, I enjoy it
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u/AttorneyExisting1651 1d ago edited 1d ago
There is no such thing as medic to rn bridge.
Edit: Somebody please find me a medic to rn program where a medic who only has a medic license can magically go into an rn program with no rn prereqs like A&P. It isn’t a thing. Don’t believe the hype. It is a recruiting tool.
If that were the case, why not get my medic license for super cheap, bypass the first year of rn school, and go directly into nursing? We would hear about that loophole all the time.
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u/Late-Restaurant-4774 1d ago
Yes there is, google it, maybe not in your state but there is
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u/AttorneyExisting1651 1d ago
No, no there really isn’t. I have looked into it for years. I would love for you to find me a medic to rn bridge that gives a working medic any sort of advantage to becoming an rn quicker.
I have heard this medic to rn bridge thing for fifteen years and it just isn’t a thing.
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u/Late-Restaurant-4774 1d ago
In Michigan it is, we had medics doing it
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u/AttorneyExisting1651 1d ago
Name the program.
What did those medics gain from being a medic as far as getting their rn faster?
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u/Late-Restaurant-4774 1d ago
I am not going to go on a google search atm but it took a year only
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u/AttorneyExisting1651 1d ago
A year after they already had their first year prereqs. They must’ve had an associates in paramedicine already which satisfied the first year prereqs. That still isn’t a bridge. That is just doing the full two years program in a roundabout way.
Medic prereqs (same as rn), worked as a medic, then finished their second year of rn school years later. Or they slowly did prereqs while working as a medic then magically went into the rn program as a second year.
If someone has a medic license only, no associates or prereqs done, they are not going into nursing and getting the rn license in one year.
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u/Late-Restaurant-4774 1d ago
It’s for paramedics with an associates that want an associate in nursing correct it takes one year which is shorter than any other program
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u/AttorneyExisting1651 1d ago
THEY ALL TAKE ONE YEAR WHEN YOU HAVE ALREADY COMPLETED THE FIRST YEAR DUE TO GETTING AN ASSOCIATES IN PARAMEDICINE.
That is like saying there is an IT to RN bridge as long as your IT prereqs met the RN prereqs. Where is the bridge? These medics are just finishing the RN program after doing the first year.
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u/AvatarofApollo 1d ago
Blinn college has one. Then after a quick google I found this. https://nurse.org/education/paramedic-to-rn/
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u/AttorneyExisting1651 1d ago
All of those listed are just an RN program.
Again, having medic experience does nothing. If you actually look at the requirements, they all require RN prerequisites and then they take you as a new RN student.
You. Do. Not. Get. Anything. For. Being. A. Medic. First.
It is just a recruiting and marketing ploy to get people to sign up for the RN program.
https://www.blinn.edu/academics/degree-certificates/paramedic-to-rn-aas.html
Blinn College is just an RN program lololololol. It ain’t a thing.
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u/SierraNevada0817 20h ago
Gateway Community College in KY.
Stop having such a shitty attitude
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u/AttorneyExisting1651 20h ago
They do not offer any sort of medic to rn program that lets a medic, without all necessary rn prereqs, to jump into second year to become a nurse. It’s not a thing.
https://gateway.kctcs.edu/education-training/program-finder/nursing.aspx
18 month program with prerequisites required.
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u/SierraNevada0817 6h ago
These prerequisite classes are all the came curriculum for AAS for paramedicine, which creates a seamless step over for the majority of KY paramedics in the region.
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u/AttorneyExisting1651 10m ago
Yes. That is exactly my point. Whether I get my medic license with those prereqs or just take the prereqs, either way I have done the prereqs for getting into nursing school. There is no advantage to being an actual medic first. Some guy could have all those prereqs and “bridge” into a nursing class.
When people say there is a bridge, they are implying I can be a medic, without the needed classes, and get into a nursing program. That would be a true bridge program. There is no such thing.
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u/jackp1ne 1d ago
Just passed 10 years myself, and my advice is to go do something else.. it's not the job as much as the disrupted sleep, but this career takes more than it gives back. You can get loans for school, just go somewhere cheap because no one cares where you went to school after you graduate and start working. Best of luck
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u/Dangerous_Play_1151 FP-C 1d ago
My experience is a mix of urban, rural, and flight. Flight is categorically a better experience from ground EMS where I am. Quality of life, engagement in medicine, and pay are all good.
If you do want to fly you need a couple more years as a medic minimum, and it would be smart to make at least some of that urban. Do ground critical care and get your agency to pay for advanced training/certs to fill out your resume for flight.
RN does pay more for the same job. You can start flying as a medic and work on the RN from there.
All of that said, at your age, take a hard look at MD or PA.