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December 1, 2024 5 mins

Season Finale - Nursing Wasn't My First Choice

In this episode, I wrap up the season by being brutally honest about what I really wanted to do before I settled on going to nursing school. I also share my vision for Paramedic2RN and who it was created for.

Looking Forward: Before Season 3 drops, I'll be rolling out a special series related to my current career goals and what I'm currently working on. This series will include six, 3-minutes or less information episodes..

As always, if you have any questions, I'm happy to help and you can send emails to: paramedic2rninfo@gmail.com.

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey guys, thanks for joining me. My name is Reggie. This is a podcast called the Paramedic

(00:07):
to RN podcast. And this is coming straight from me, not scripted, nothing written down,
just kind of off the top of my head. And I just wanted to kind of share with you guys
what my vision is. My vision is to recruit paramedics to become registered nurses. The

(00:29):
reason being is I believe that a paramedic trained nurse can fill a lot of the gaps in
this nursing shortage that we have. So who am I and what is my intention today? Obviously,
paramedic to RN, I'm going to talk about a bridge and option for you guys to come into

(00:53):
nursing for people who want to become nurses. I'm a military vet, turned paramedic, turned
RN. Originally, to be honest with you, I didn't want to become a nurse. I wanted to be a PA.
And I knew this day one when I became a paramedic. The problem was I didn't realize how competitive

(01:14):
PA school was. Had a friend of mine who tried to get into PA school three times, wasn't
able to get in, and he decided to become a nurse. And he talked to me about the grad
side of nursing, which was the nurse practitioner side. And I knew what a nurse practitioner
was, but I wasn't really familiar with nursing as a whole. I went and done my research on

(01:40):
the different advanced practice RNs and I decided I think this would be a better route
for me. I had one issue, becoming an RN. I've heard of several paramedic to RN bridges,
but I didn't know anything about them. And I had some serious questions. So what I started

(02:02):
doing was looking for information about paramedics to RN. I searched Google, talked to friends,
read articles, only found limited information, but nothing gave me what I was looking for.
Information I needed to know was, can I work? How was your structure? How would my current
knowledge fit in as a paramedic going RN? What were the clinical requirements? Because

(02:26):
as a paramedic, I didn't have a lot of time. I had to work to pay bills just like you guys
probably have to do now. So could this fit for me? I was able to get into a paramedic
to RN program at a community college about an hour and away from my house. I started
in spring 2020 and I wound up graduating spring 2021. It was a three semester program. And

(02:53):
I will tell you, it was pretty rigorous, but I had fun. But more importantly, I came out
with so much information. I came out with what the difference in the mindset between
a paramedic and RN, how to study for tests, working with the schedule. How would that
look if you're trying to schedule your work around your schooling? But I found out that

(03:16):
there were differences between the traditional way versus the bridge. So basically I'm here
to be your resource. Today, I have way more insight that I helped guide you. My future
podcast would include things like the difference between the traditional versus a paramedic
to RN bridge, the different bridge options. What is a paramedic to RN bridge? What is

(03:39):
the medic to BSN bridge? They have accelerated BSN programs. They even now have master's
direct entry that you can get into where you can go get your master's degree, still test
for your RN and you can enter these direct entry programs with a bachelor's or master's.

(03:59):
For new grads, once you finish as a new grad, what should you expect? Also selecting your
nurse specialty. I think that was probably one of the most difficult things I had a problem
with was selecting my specialty and also selecting what I think my career options would be because
nursing is really vast. You can be an ED nurse, which I was used to being a paramedic, but

(04:22):
there are infection control and diabetes educator. I mean, there is so much room for lateral
movement in nursing. It is unreal. Also for some of you that was interested in grad nursing
like I was, which I think is a hidden gem, what is an advanced practice RN or what we

(04:43):
call APRNs? There's basically four advanced practice RNs. They are nurse practitioners,
clinical nurse specialists, certified registered nurse anesthetists, what we call CRNAs, and
they also nursing midwives. What are the difference? And also doctorate nursing, and I think what
sets our profession apart. So I'm going to be talking about a lot of these and much,

(05:06):
much more in my future podcast. So thank you guys for tuning in and I hope to see you on
some of my future podcasts. Take care.
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