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Honest Opinion
I am a registered nurse and have been for over 12 years in healthcare 20 years, a lot of times and I understand some of the issues between EMS and nurses. However I work on a volunteer Fire/Rescue Squad, I have worked Obstetrics, Gerontology, Med Surg, Psychiatric, Emergency, Case Management, and Telemetry to name some of the areas I have worked. I am very proud to be a RN and worked very hard to get where I am today. However, I sort of feel disappointed by the way my fellow FF who are EMT's and Paramedics state that a nurse doesn't count in Fire/Rescue they do not acknowledge that. Why is it I am ACLS certified and have over 20 years in healthcare doesn't count for anything? I show respect to EMT and Paramedics why can (some) not show me that respect back?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Harold Richard Hair on
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in my station 12 have a guy that is a RN and paramedic and has been for 10 years we respect him as a rn and paramedic he does have alot of experiance i would say the crew your running with needs to mature some if they can't see your experiance
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Permalink Reply by FETC on
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Captain Busy,
I see things differently here in New Hampshire. Probably because of different states and laws.
You mention EMT's or EMS and trained in the "basics" but Paramedicine (if needed) is the standard today.
When we call base station for additional orders, (which is few and far between) in which the paramedic may want to try something that is outside of the State of New Hampshire's Standard Operating Procedures -or- "Standing Orders" for the field, the EMS Paramedic speak ONLY with med control. In our recieiving hospital, medical control is the doctor and only the doctor. This is done via cell phone in the field to the "on-duty" doctor's cell phone in the ER.
Nurses have absolutely no say on granting permission in the field for any level of EMS. Not that they can't or are not qualified, but in our state we are working under the state's protocols. We actually are NOT working for the ER doctor. There have been case studies in which something happened in the field and the ER doctor has no recourse for our actions as we are not working under his license.
IMO: All nurses for the most part are very educated in their scope of practice, but I have met some that still think it is the 1970's and provide the same respect Johnny and Roy got back then toward EMS. We get into heated debates on FFN about not being called "ambulance drivers" but that comes from the days of "you call we haul" and both ambulance attendants rode up front while the patient died in the back of the converted ambulance/hearse. Today, our scope of practice is more of a front-line ER than ever before.
And I still respect what nurses do... married one but they also get to perform their initial assessment in the clean, warm, well-lit controlled environment of the medical facility. They also see our patient post cleaned up, breathing better, being infused, and have already recieved the same medications that would have been ordered by the ER's doctor if the patient "walked in". Bottom line is they look much better and are not in the same physical state of distress when we, the field workers arrived in the rain, snow, mud, dark, dirty, working conditions of "our" environment.
Sometimes their attitude of why things were done or "not done" are implied by their little assessment of that patient when he or she presents on our $15,000 stretcher.
Respect needs to go both ways...
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Permalink Reply by Padre Pete on
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So we respond to an assisted living fascility. We move right in and do our job. I find the RN in charge of the night shift in the room complaining "I dont understand. Im supposed to be the RN in charge here. Why dont you people do as you're told?" Sure we welcome advise in regard to the patients history and well being but you called us so it is our patient now and our liability. We have a member RN who is also a paramedic/flight nurse, because she wants to have all the appropriate credentials for whatever tasks she finds herself doing. The same state that licenses physicians and RNs also licenses EMTs. EMTs are not pretending to be nurses and that should work both ways out of a mutual respect for each others certifications. Shouldn't it?
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Permalink Reply by Dewayne and Diana Bean on
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Thanks for the input!
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Permalink Reply by Ben "Batman" Barry on
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one of the firefighters on my dept is a nurse but CT will not allow nurses to practice on the road. my dept looked to her but she could not do anything. i think the way firefighters emts and medics treat nurses has to do with the ways a nurse treated them. maybe or maybe not.
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That is always a possibility Ben!
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TY!
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Permalink Reply by Shareef Abdu Nur on
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I have respect for RN's and I have only had problems with RN's who do ot respect us. I learned along time ago that we should not comparing RN's to Medics. It is not that one is better than the other. It is that we are both better in our fields. Medics do not do what RN's do and vice versa. We should respect our differences instead of comparing our likenesses.
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Permalink Reply by Paul Montpetit on
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I am also a Registered Nurse and in Fire Rescue.....before anyone (FF/EMS or Nurses) gripes about the way they are treated or addressed why not as they say...."Ride a mile in my boots...?"(sorry about the parody)...This goes both ways....the people in the hospital as well as those in the field can learn alot by putting themselves in the others situation.....Try suggesting this if you are having issues...it will not only open some eyes but both sides will appreciate the unique problems the other side has....In simple terms....DON'T BITCH IF YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO BE PART OF THE SOLUTION....Just my look at it.....Stay safe...always Keep the Faith..........Paul
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One other thing.....Respect is earned....not given out lightly.....Have you shown yourself worthy of respect...and no, I am not coming down on you for I see it from our side as well....some medics/FF are very rude when giving reports over the radio or in person to person communications....I usually (if it is one of our people) give them a rather sharp elbow to the ribs if I see it.......Paul
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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Despite this a few month's old thread, oh well. Here we really don't have an issue with lack of respect. Majority of the medics on our dept wen through the tech school and had to do clinicals through the year at the ER's. You got to know the nurses and docs and a rapport is established.
On the flip side though, just because a nurse may have a higher level of knowlege and or certs, it still comes down to what they typically see. I would have no problem working alongside some of the ER nurses, because they basically do see what we do, although when the pt gets to them, the scene is different. I know of plenty of nurses who have been in a certain field for years and lost touch on other skills because they just don't do it enough.
The last several times I recertified my ACLS, I was with several other nurses, some from ICU, some from ER etc. They were also the ones looking at the algorithoms, looking up what drug to push next, taking a bit to realize the rhythm change and so forth. Meanwhile most of the medics cruised on through, why? because they see it more. I was an EMT-Basic and we operated close to a couple hospitals and we have had nurses show up a few times on calls, but many times we turned them away. Not because of respect or they didn't know what to do (some cases they don't) but the fact that it is our license on the line. In this capacity they are a Good Samaritan, unless they want to take over pt care, which doesn't happen often.
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