RE: rn to emtp bridges

["Craig A Button" <cbuttonrn@yahoo.com>]

Hmm I think you should be careful about speaking about things you know
nothing about.  The program expects you to have a certain amount of
patient contact time before getting into the program.  And after
precepting many traditional BSN students, I'd trust a paramedic who had
graduated from regents before I'd trust a new traditional grad.  

In any program it's the individual, not the program that determines most
of the competencies.  I don't look at a diploma when evaluating a new
nurse.  I check to make sure they have a valid license and then evaluate
there skills.  I've had nurses from Regents and Phoenix Online both out
skill and out perform nurses from Stanford and John Hopkins.

On top of that, the orientation of those new nurses is paramount.  Train
them well when they hit the floor and they will be good nurses.

If they didn't tell you were they graduated from, you'd never know.


Craig A Button, RN
Director of Nursing

-----Original Message-----
From: flightmed-admin@flightweb.com
[mailto:flightmed-admin@flightweb.com] On Behalf Of Jason Babcock
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2001 8:30 PM
To: flightmed@flightweb.com
Subject: rn to emtp bridges

I was a reviewer for a proposed bridge program in
Texas that is in current development.  I think the key
is clinical experience.  I know all the paramedic-s
will agree that in field experience is one of the most
important aspect of pre-hospital education that nurses
need.  

I feel the EMS communittee is doing a good job (in
Texas) by requiring nurses to have a large amount of
clinical time.

However I feel the nursing communittee is doing a
grave injustice to paramedic-s that go through regency
programs to get their RN.  I did not go to such a
program but I work with many people that have and
listening to them and about their experiences it seems
the regency programs are not concerned with clinical
experience.  Nursing is such a broad field and the
knowledge base is so broad I can see how this might be
difficult.  But I had large amounts of clinical
experience when I attended UTMB-Galveston and because
of that I was better prepared.  It appears the regency
programs do not require or provide such learning
opportunities and I feel the paramedic-s that attend
such programs are missing out.  It is not fair for the
paramedic-s attending such programs to be expected to
fill RN roles when the regency program they attended
provided very little clinical experience.

I am grateful that the EMS communittee (in Texas) has
higher expectations of the nurses that are moving into
pre-hospital roles.  The proposed Texas curriculum
makes the RN that bridges to para-medicine more
marketable and truly enhances their knowledge base in
a practicle and useful manner.

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