i was thinking momenarily that i was way off subject and what i was experiencing wasn't what the opinion of the general public was. i have seen responses that all good paramedics should go to RN school for better wages. i have heard responses that paramedics aren't as educated. i have heard responses that paramedicine needs to be standardized. first, i have my BA in microbiology with a minor in chemistry. it took me two years of college to finish emt school with the prereq's for paramedic school and then paramedic school itself. please don't tell me that RN's are more educated. getting your basic RN takes the same amount of time. again, i am not underestimating the RN proffesion. i have enormous respect for the RNs i deal with on a daily basis. one response was right, we deal with different aspects of medicine. that doesn't mean that our aspect is less important! i didn't mean to start an "us vs them" war and if any RNs reading this shouldn't take it as one. just because i feel like paramedics deserve more doesn't mean that if i want more i need to go to RN school. that would hurt my profession. what if every good paramedic went to RN school? what would become of my profession? what if every good RN went to medical school? that is the problem with paramedics. too many of the "great" ones move on due to unresolvable frustrations with our profession. so let's go back to my point in the first place. i want to standardize the paramedic profession so that we are able to be clinicians in the ER for people like Nick. so that we can support our families without having to work three jobs and 100 hours a week (for you nurses out there i am not exagerrating that point). so that we can be considered equals to those with similiar education. i read the responses to those who were once paramedics or are nurses and i felt like i was given a "if i don't like it, then go to nursing school" response. i can respect that. i have thought about it, but i like the field that paramedics work in and i think the only place to go is up. in response to Russell Griffin i want to say one thing. your voice reflects the pain of most. i will not rest until we can standardize our profession and bring it to the level of which we can all be proud. how many paramedics does everybody know that became RNs only for the pay increase and not because they love the nursing field? things that make you go hmmmm. once again i am not critisizing nursing. i have a very professional respect for nurses and i will always admire their work. that doesn't mean i don't long for equality. we are all on the same team here. fly safely!
