EMT-B/I or LPN?

[Alpine_Sapper]

Ok, so, for some time I've been looking at expanding my medical skillset. Not that I'm a slouch in this regard, but I haven't have a refresher in a while, and I'm looking at something a little more formal that what I recieved in the military. Essentially I want the skills for the sake of having the skills in case I need them, but I've also thought about changing careers to something that suits me a little better, like avalanche forecaster or ski patrol somewhere cold. While discussing this with family, I stated that I wanted to use my last 12 months of MGIB funding to complete the EMT-B course.

To my mind, most backwoods medical jobs are paramedic and below, as it's either triage or first aid and then an evac if at all possible. As the EMT-B course is like 6-9 months, that would leave a little MGIB cash for the first part of the EMT-I, and then I'd pay for the paramedic if I choose to pursue it.

I don't think 12 months would cover the LPN, but it would put me on track to be a RN, which is considerably more $$$ than a Paramedic.

Just looking for some advice as to how you would proceed if you were in my position.

[Ken]

Sapper, they're different career paths. Do you want to work outdoors - on the road, or do you want to be confined to a hospital or care facility? There are very few available RN jobs that will bring you out into the field, unless you consider, say, VNA as field work.

[tennecedar]

I took the EMT-B when I was 18. I'm not sure about your state but in mine IV therapy was a separate class taken after. Both were required to get a job with EMS. Wilderness EMT was offered later. It had more to do with what you can accomplish with the barest of necessities. I chose not to take that course or paramedic. Not enough pay in my area. I chose to volunteer with local rescue(over 10 years last two as captain) and earn my living seperately. RN's in my home town make double the average factory workers wage. But who wants to be stuck in a hospital with a bunch of sick people? ;-)

[Boker]

I'm a RN with a paramedic background. (License expired). The big questions is: How old are you? EMS is a young persons profession, even though some do make it longer than others. EMT for first aid skills, nursing for career.

You will want at least an EMT-I level or higher for the advanced life support skills, but the definition of EMT-I can vary from state to state.

My .02

[Rick]

If you want outside, how about Wilderness Medicine?

http://www.equipped.org/medschol.htm

http://www.nols.edu/wmi/

http://www.etisurvival.com/wldmd.htm

[intothefire]

Alpine,

Finally found an area of this that I can truly say I have good experiance:

I am currently a Chief Officer of a good size West Coast Fire Department. I worked as a Training Officer for 8 years before getting promoted.

Ok enough of that........1 year is enough to get your Basic, maybe your Intermediate depending on which state you are in. Example: California does not have Intermediates, but Nevada has 2 different levels of Intermediate.

My experiance, in teaching most of these classes, would be to get your Paramedic or Advanced cert. It will cost you about $3500 +Clinical time +ride along time = about a year. Basics and Intermediates will give you skills, but Department of Transportation regs (DOT oversees all of the curiculum) will only get you basic skills and knowledge to get your patient to a higher level of care. Example: A Motorcycle accident in the wilderness with a broken Femur: Basic will teach you to assess the patient, package them for transport, and administer (at most) Oxygen. Intermediate: same thing, with more knowledge +maybe an IV, Paramedic: True understanding of mechisim of injury, stablization, pain management and other interventions as needed.

LPN: 2 very intense years of education.

RN:

[Beans]

I was married to a LPN with several other Certs ( IV Etc) and 20 years experience that almost made her a RN except for dispersing drugs. My ex Sister- in- law was a RN.

My current sister-in-law is a RN

If I was injured in the field I would want some medical personnel with the skills of a Navy Corpsman, with combat experience, then either a LPN or a RN.

If the RN or LPN had several years of ER Truma experience then the choice broadens.

[intothefire]

sorry hit the wrong button.....forgive my spelling errors (was going to spell check!!!!)

RN: 3 to 4 years of education. Truly a career as mentioned before. However, very very very few field jobs for RNs. Example: Trauma Nurses on Air Medical services...read: Helicopters. Great pay, great job...but tons of education.

If I had to do it all over again....paramedic for sure. I am currently an Intermediate, but my skills are all about assesment, package, rapid transport to nearest medical facaility.

Just my .02

Thanks for listening.

[mcfd45]

I am currently and EMT and I need to take my I85 practical. I do advise you to take the intermediate class prior to medic. i failed my medic and let me tell you it wasnt hard to fail it. My advise is get a year or 2 working on the road before you go ahead and jump into medic. the way we do stuff in class is completley different than the way we do it on the road. as a good rule of thumb you lear 25% of your stuff in the classroom and 75% in the field. good luck and always ABCs and if its wet, warm, and smelly and its not yours dont't touch it.
jeff

[tacmedic]

I've been a paramedic for about the last 10 years, six of them as a critical care and flight paramedic, also a SWAT medic. Let me tell you, if you are looking for something to do as a career you should probably go with your RN. I am currently taking classes for my RN and will hopefully be done by the end of summer. In most placed you can get your associates degree in nursing in 2 years and get a decent job rather quickly out of school, some placed do want you to have a BSN which is 3-4 yrs, but most places don't care. While there may not be a lot of places that you can get a job outdoors with an RN, you will make quite a bit more money and thus have to work less hours and will have more time to play outdoors. In Iowa RN's can works as what they call "nurse exempt" paramedics for ambulance services, and many places still pay them a nurse wage. This is what I will be doing. Once I get my RN degree I will still be doing the same exact job, but be making 25-30% more. Crazy.
If you decide to go with getting your paramedic first, there are options for getting your RN without going back to traditional school. Excelsior college in Albany, NY offers an online RN degree for people with previous healthcare experience (Paramedic, LPN, RT), you do it at your own pace. That is the program that I am doing. Feel free to send me a message if you have any other questions that I may be able to answer for you.

[Arkansas_Ranger]

Ok, so, for some time I've been looking at expanding my medical skillset. Not that I'm a slouch in this regard, but I haven't have a refresher in a while, and I'm looking at something a little more formal that what I recieved in the military. Essentially I want the skills for the sake of having the skills in case I need them, but I've also thought about changing careers to something that suits me a little better, like avalanche forecaster or ski patrol somewhere cold. While discussing this with family, I stated that I wanted to use my last 12 months of MGIB funding to complete the EMT-B course.

To my mind, most backwoods medical jobs are paramedic and below, as it's either triage or first aid and then an evac if at all possible. As the EMT-B course is like 6-9 months, that would leave a little MGIB cash for the first part of the EMT-I, and then I'd pay for the paramedic if I choose to pursue it.

I don't think 12 months would cover the LPN, but it would put me on track to be a RN, which is considerably more $$$ than a Paramedic.

Just looking for some advice as to how you would proceed if you were in my position.

I took the EMT-B course at a local community college as a night time elective while taking courses for my degree by day at "the university." This was in the spring of 2001, but the course was only a semester long - four hours per night, two nights each week.

For what you're interested in I'd suggest EMT-B training as that specifically relates to acute, emergent conditions, etc. The LPN won't be at all helpful for that, and I don't think the LPN curriculum would even adequately address chronic health problems. I later became a paramedic, and I'll say that without the supplies a paramedic would have you're best served by remaining a basic EMT. An EMT-I is basically an EMT-B with further airway and IV training. An EMT-P includes all that, plus further training in trauma, common medical problems, and lots of cardiac training. This would be your best bet overall if you wanted to be "in the know." If you ever cared to - there are some states that allow EMT-P to RN bridge programs so you get the emergent training of a paramedic along with the....(lacking a word here) everyday (?) training of an RN. I thought of going thru that cross training before I dropped the paramedic under the realization that I didn't want to work in the medical field any longer.

Now, if somebody would sponsor me I'd LOVE to go to medical school.