Paramedic or Nurse?

[Serin]

DS is torn between the two.

I think he is drawn to the Paramedic route as he is very outdoorsy and likes the thought of moving around and dealing with lots of different situations (and blue lights!).

However he feels that nursing provides a better career path, with more opportunities eg research, practitioner roles, practice nurse roles, even military possibilities. He also feels that nursing qualifications are more recognised internationally should he wish to go off travelling?

He is doing work experience/voluntary work on a medical ward and loves it. He also has a weeks "try uni" event booked over the summer holidays aimed at those considering professions related to medicine.

Any perspectives from those working in either field would be very welcome. He is applying for 2019.

My gardener was a paramedic. It can be very tough (he says) and the hours can be demanding. I tend to agree with you that the career path is less broad. He left to be a gardener because the hours are better suited to family life.

My friend’s DD has just started a nursing degree. Friend is a nurse and was RAF nursing trained. She says the modern degrees are not as good as the old RAF training! However, for a career with lots of options, it might be a better choice. Obviously the army is one. I know many nurses are not happy with their pay and conditions, so thinking about his future career path might be worthwhile so he is happy with what he ends up doing.

Thanks Bubbles, the RAF are currently not accepting any more applications for their nursing degree courses. Not sure if this is a permanent situation.The Navy and Army are, although they don't make it easy to apply. I went with him to their shared careers office and they were giving him the hard sell for the EMT (emergency medical technician) role.
Fobbed him off with "The nursing course is very highly competitive, very few people get accepted".
This is a lad who is getting A's in Biology, Chemistry and Physics A Levels and has been a cadet for 4 years. I am sure he would stand as good a chance at anyone if he applied for Nursing.
Nothing wrong with EMT role I guess, until you come to leave the Military and find it only qualifies to you to drive a civilian ambulance, basically the paramedic's assistant.

If he is getting all As in sciences at A level, and done work experience, has he considered medicine? Longer course but such a wide and varied career path.

I thought about joining the Army full time to train as a nurse or some sort of related field so joined the T.A. ( just to see if it was for me) as a EMT and did a lot more than just drive a civilian ambulance. Would he consider joining one of the Services territorial units just to see if he likes it. With his grades would he be interested in going into Medicine or Officer training in the Military.

I would recommend nurse. I work as an emergency nurse practitoner and love it. Ever day is different. Loads of scope u train / specialise.

I'd recommend nurse, he can then choose to specialise further if he wants to and it's got more varied career options.

I’m a paramedic but not in the UK so obviously I don’t know how your system works regarding future opportunities. Where I am there are a few but not as wide and varied as nursing. I wish I’d chosen nursing tbh.

With his grades he could do medicine and work abroad or medivac for a time to get the outdoorsy element.

The job of a paramedic is very hard. A lot of the people he will go out to don't really need a paramedic and aren't having a medical emergency and that's frustrating. A lot of people will be drunk, or wankers. A lot of jobs will be picking up old people who have fallen over and that's very sad. You rarely get to see the outcomes. You just lock and load. You can't save everyone, some jobs are devastatingly sad (especially at Christmas), and the shift schedules are relentless. The person I love chose paramedic as a vocation many years ago. Knowing what I know now, I would probably have recommended against it. It's definitely not all sirens, saving lives and being a hero. Most of the time it's eating half a meal del from Tescos before getting called out to someone slightly ill and shouted at because you blocked someone elses driveway, and feeling frustrated that the press is reporting how long it took for paramedics to reach a heart attack while you were wasting resources attending a dickhead who broke a finger punching a wall/car/traffic cone while shit faced.... think long and hard. We need paramedics of course... but your son will need a thick skin.

I’m an allied health professional and work frequently alongside both including being out and about in ambulances. All the paramedics I know are fairly stressed, long hours, frustrating conditions, finger pointing culture, frequently get off late.

Lots of nurses are stressed as well but I do think there’s more opportunity to diversify into specialist areas so if you’re not happy somewhere you can try somewhere else.

I would think very seriously before either. There are massive negatives to both, not least the abuse you get on a daily basis. Certainly I wouldn’t recommend being a doctor in the current climate and things don’t seem likely to improve any time soon.

One thing to consider is that although nursing perhaps gives you more options, you do have to chose a branch (unless you manage to get dual registration) whereas I think as a paramedic you see adults, children, mental health (a LOT of mental health), the lot.

Not sure about international travel with either so he should look into that.

Most nurses I know are trying to get out, not get in.

Has he thought about physio? Opportunity to set your own business up once qualified?

Thanks so much for the replies, I will show him this thread.

I don't think medicine would be an option for him as he didn't get great grades at GCSE, 3xA's and all the rest B's. He is finding A Levels much easier as he is doing subjects that he loves.

He hasn't mentioned Physio, Mrs Tyler! I guess that's another avenue to explore.

Army officer would definitely be of interest to him.

Physio could actually be a great idea although it is hugely, hugely competitive as it is one of the less horrific clinical jobs. Getting in is just the first step and then depending on where you are in the country there can be a shortage of jobs.

Doctor morale is the lowest I have ever known it so not being able to do medicine is by no means the end of the world.

I'm a paramedic and giveitfive has it spot on with the realities of the job as an ambulance clinician. There are routes for progression now though that there weren't a few years ago: entry to the professional register will have to be via a BSc course from 2020 onwards to bring it into line with nursing; a prescribing qualification has just been approved for paramedics, and many paramedics now work in A&E, urgent care centres or GP surgeries as Emergency Care Practitioners. Feel free to pm me if you or your ds want to know anything in more detail.

The trouble is I was told all these realities of HCP jobs at a similar age. I ignored them and went ahead anyway. I frequently regret that decision. It’s hard to understand it until you have experienced it and even then he may or may not feel it is worth the bad sides.

I’m a paramedic and love my job, lots of opportunities, gp surgeries, specialist paramedics, forensic paras, working in custody suites, prisons, critical care, working in A&E, working on oil rigs, cruise ships, working for overseas charities, HEMs and probably loads more I haven’t thought of.

In case the powers that be are watching I feel obliged to also point out that nursing and paramedic jobs can of course be incredibly rewarding and be hugely valuable to society .

Peadiatric nursing is the best job ever. And somewhat immune to the problems faced in adult land!

I’m a nurse, and generally I love my job. I trained in the Navy and loved it. I work in primary care now and wouldn’t work in a hospital again for all the tea in China. I have a LOT of nurse friends and colleagues and we all have very varied experiences, but generally we are all fairly happy and have a hugely diverse range of jobs.

I know a few paramedics, they love the job when they actually get the chance to do it. A couple are air ambulance paramedics (HEMS) and adore their job. They have been qualified for donkeys years though and have done many years of the dross and grunt work.

My friends husband left the military and became a paramedic. He burned out within a few years - so much stress, short staffing, pressure, little support and no formal psych support or debriefing.

If he wants to do nursing I would encourage him to explore the military further. Good training, great pay and experiences, good opportunities for progression and decent pension. They look after personnel well (compared to the NHS in my opinion). I think having a military experience on your CV can open doors - I’ve never not been offered a job I’ve applied for.

I think the one huge bonus of doing a medical or nursing degree is that you will get a job in the field you have trained for. You are not competing against 50 others for a well paid job - and being a Dr is well paid and has a great pension. It is still a hugely popular qualification so plenty of scope in the NHS to do well. Few jobs are perfect and many are very hard work. Not just in the NHS.

I wouldn’t be put off the services. If he does not try, he never will know!

I meant to add that there are also jobs such as occupational therapists, audiologist, opticians etc. Not quite the adventurous feel though!

Has he considered dentistry? It is a great profession.

Hi I would recommend nursing over paramedic we had a student recently who was a paramedic and is now retracing as a nurse he felt there were more career opportunities in nursing and more choices of areas to work in.
It’s also no longer true that if you train in one branch you can’t transfer to another, I trained in one and am now a ward sister in another one. My boss is now actively recruiting newly qualified adult nurses and training them up.

Having said this if I had my time over again I’d train in paediatrics, the ratio of children to trained nurses is significantly lower giving you more time to actually care for the child their family carers etc and form meaningful and supportive relationships with them. On adult wards basic care is frequently done by HCA’s whilst trained nurses spend an inordinate amount of their day giving out medications.
Nurses in comparison with paramedics also have more time to get to know their patients over time. We have lots of children with serious long term complex health problems we care for them often when they are critically unwell and then a few weeks see them better we know them and their families it’s very satisfying, or we look after oncology patients from diagnosis to successful treatment or when they sadly need paliative care again we know them and their families well we have often formed special relationships with them as we support them through the good and the bad times.
Nursing is bloody hard work, we nearly all do these “long days” of 12-13 hours I average 15 000 steps in a shift, I frequently don’t get a break or a chance to go to the loo, there are highs and lows, we are frequentkt verbally abused, patients and their families often have unrealistic expectations of the NHS and increasingly people seem to think we’re trying to make their lives different in fact it’s the complete opposite. I have occasionally tried other jobs thinking that the pasture would be greener elsewhere but it isn’t nursing has its downsides but it has many positives.

SarahMill has been at the nitrous :p - Dentistry is horrible

I have been a nurse for 13 years and have just left my job to join the ambulance service. I worked in a busy acute receiving unit, and although I loved the work, I felt more and more demoralised. As a paramedic, I have one-to-one time with patients, albeit over a very short time. I get to engage with elderly people (which I love) and give them all of me for a short time. It broke my heart to be constantly split between 5, 6, 10 people who all deserved more. If I had my time again, I would probably still study nursing, but it’s hard to move up the pay bands without swapping patient contact for a desk and a photocopier.