Paramedic considering best options to reach MD/DO.

[Burntmedic]

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Hi, I am currently a Paramedic with a little over one year of experience in a busy rural EMS agency. I am looking to go to medical school; at my current rate with working full time I am anticipating being finished with my bachelors and pre-reqs in about four years. I already have two degrees, one AA general transfer and the other an AS in EMS.

My question is I am considering a Bridge Paramedic to RN program as a way to fill the gap, make more money and expand my clinical options on my way to medical school. Do you think that's a good idea or just a waste of time and an unnecessary diversion? I am a non-traditional student and slightly older (27) so I will probably be 30-31 by the time I am applying for medical school. The RN path makes so much more money than EMS (although I love EMS) but I don't want to waste my time when the ultimate goal is physician. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[greytmedic]

I'm currently a 3rd year medical student and unemployed paramedic. I would suggest skipping the RN bridge. If your ultimate goal is to go to medical school there is no real purpose for getting an RN. I would concentrate on getting your degree and pre-reqs done for medical school as soon as possible. Anything you could do to get those out of the way would be the best and avoid any side steps.

 

[Dwindlin]

I too was a medic prior to med school and as grey said, skip the RN. Won't help you in the long run. Get your pre-recs done and do well on your MCATs.

 

[235750]

I was a paramedic and then LPN for awhile before medical school, it made no difference in my application. Honestly, the faster you get your prereqs done the better as (1) tuition keeps rising at college/medical school and (2) you need to focus ALL your attention on the big prereqs (o chem, physics, etc) and the MCAT. An RN won't make up for a poor MCAT score! good luck

 

[Burntmedic]

I am not looking to move to RN as a way to bolster my application, it is more a way to get more exposure to the hospital side of the health care environment and make more money while I am working my way towards medical school. I'm not particularly concerned with any "advantages", just being able to pay my bills. I didn't originally get into EMS and become a Paramedic for any type of edge.

 

[235750]

We are assuming that you are proposing adding a year or two to your timeline to add the RN. In which case, I think half our comments still apply. Delaying med school matriculation is not a better way to make money because that's one less year you'll be a doctor. Also, tuition is always rising, etc

If you are proposing adding the RN on top of your premed requirements, then our other comments apply. Do not detract from your pre-med requirements or MCAT in anyway. Just take stafford loans and don't worry about it, you're going to be in a lot more debt trust me

Good luck!

 

[Dwindlin]

I am not looking to move to RN as a way to bolster my application, it is more a way to get more exposure to the hospital side of the health care environment and make more money while I am working my way towards medical school. I'm not particularly concerned with any "advantages", just being able to pay my bills. I didn't originally get into EMS and become a Paramedic for any type of edge.

Shadow a doc. Nursing is not medicine (I don't mean this in any derogatory sense) so if you want to know what its like to be a doc, you need to follow a doc. Shadowing is a great way to get exposure without adding any time/academic burden.

 

[235750]

^ Careful, fab4 will get all huffy if you say things like that! 🙂

Great suggestion, follow this person's advice 👍

 

[Paseo Del Norte]

I would strongly advise against nursing as a stepping stone to medical school. Nursing has multiple problems on multiple levels and the last thing we need are tourists. People leaving nursing in the first few years of their career has and may still be a problem. Additionally, it is true that the job of a RN and MD/DO are profoundly different. I dare say nursing would not be all that helpful say for the A&P , terminology, and exposure to health care. Another concept to consider are the long wait lists of people who want to get into nursing school.

This also means that you will have to be honest about your intentions when you do your nursing school interview. Telling your potential instructors that you are using nursing as a step to medical school is not a great way to earn points. Additionally, you could lie, and the potential reputation after people find out you used nursing may come back to bite. Loose, loose IMHO.

If you want to be a doctor, get great grades, work on a solid pre-medical type degree, destroy the MCAT, and put your effort into obtaining the said goal. I do think shadowing may be a great option to consider.

 

[Burntmedic]

Thanks guys for the feedback; I feel however I was not 100% clear on what I am trying to do.

While it is true I want to become an Emergency Physician, I don't see nursing as a stepping stone. I would currently like to pursue nursing as a way to obtain dual licensure so that I can eventually get a job flying as a Paramedic/RN with a flight program. Also, as I said, picking up the extra shifts as a nurse would be nice ... the pay is much better than paramedic (although I do love EMS).

If I did pursue the nursing program it would be through a program such as Excelsior ... I simply can't afford to do anything full time at this point (House payment, etc). However it wouldn't detract from my pre-reqs or MCAT study time at this point. Does this chance anyone's mind? I view RN more as an intermediate goal in the overall process. Life's a journey and not a destination, right?

 

[Dwindlin]

I understood you the first time. Doesn't change my advice. Most places aren't going to let you walk out of nursing school and on to a flight service, they generally require experience. And honestly as I've eluded too practicing nursing is different from practicing medicine. If you want to be good at either it takes years of practice. Going through an RN program simply as an "intermediate goal" is (in my humble opinion) a waste. If you are sure you want to be a doc, then you are simply taking a spot in a nursing school from someone who may take those skills and hone them to become a amazing nurse, while you may spend what, a couple years at most?

If you're goal is truly to become a physician then work towards that. If you want to be a flight nurse/medic, then work towards that, but I wouldn't suggest both.

Just my opinion of course.

Edit: As to the pay thing, every year you put off matriculating is a year of attending pay lost. Some advice I got long ago when in a similar position as you.

 

[235750]

I understood you the first time.

atkinsje's post is completely right. We're not trying to be bully you here, but I think it's you that doesn't understand us!

The title of this thread is "...considering best options to reach MD/DO". We are telling you that getting the RN is a bad way to accomplish this.

You keep saying that getting an RN would be good because of the money. That's just wrong as we said. Think BIG PICTURE

Also when you said that being an RN...

wouldn't detract from my pre-reqs or MCAT study time at this point.

you are wrong! It absolutely will detract from your goal. This is because (a) it will add years to your goal, making it that much more difficult to get back into your premed requirements and (b) you will be filling your head with useless information in regards to your goal of becoming a doctor. Trust me, I was a paramedic and nurse for years, now in medical school, it hasn't helped a bit (except for reading EKGs). You need to concentrate on being less of a technical clinician and more of a scientist right now if you want to get into medical school. It's harder than you think! The MCAT will ask you to synthesize organic compounds, apply Einstein's theory of special relativity, assess someone's genetics, etc. You will not find a single question on the exam that is clinically relevant: your experience in the field will mean nothing. If you want to do well for medical school, spend that time and money on MCAT prep courses or taking more science classes in general.

Imagine: you spend an extra year brushing up your academics. That gets you into a state med school which is $15-$25k a year instead of $35-$70k (see CU Denver!) for out of state/private school. So that's an extra $150k you might save. How long would you have to work as an RN to make up that difference? Probably more than a year 🙂

Like atkinsje said, if you want to be a flight nurse, then go for it. That is not a bad life at all. But don't even think about it if you want to be a physician as it doesn't make sense from a financial or time perspective.

Let us know what you decide. Good luck!!

 

[Paseo Del Norte]

Thanks guys for the feedback; I feel however I was not 100% clear on what I am trying to do.

While it is true I want to become an Emergency Physician, I don't see nursing as a stepping stone. I would currently like to pursue nursing as a way to obtain dual licensure so that I can eventually get a job flying as a Paramedic/RN with a flight program. Also, as I said, picking up the extra shifts as a nurse would be nice ... the pay is much better than paramedic (although I do love EMS).

If I did pursue the nursing program it would be through a program such as Excelsior ... I simply can't afford to do anything full time at this point (House payment, etc). However it wouldn't detract from my pre-reqs or MCAT study time at this point. Does this chance anyone's mind? I view RN more as an intermediate goal in the overall process. Life's a journey and not a destination, right?

You are looking at a minimum of three to five years of ER and/or critical care nursing experience before most flight services would even look at you. Therefore, you are simply wasting time. In three to five years you could have a pre-med degree, or even be a first year resident if you started medical school.

It sounds like you are still trying to decide your path with all these ideas of nursing school and flight nursing. If you were totally commited to med school, you would have only one goal in mind, and nursing would not be on your to do list.

 

[Burntmedic]

I had considered most of these points before but reading them from impartial observers has solidified my opinion --- I am going to ignore the RN and simply focus on getting done with my Pre-req's in the shortest amount of time possible with the best grades. I already have a lot of MCAT study material and am reviewing it as I go through the courses (chemistry, currently). It is already proving difficult working full time in EMS while doing this but I will keep everyone posted. There is still always the possibility of becoming a flight medic after three years of experience (I meet the requirements for a busy ground 911 service) ... again, not my end goal but it would be a nice part time job if I could swing it.

Thanks to everyone who gave me the tough advice I didn't want to hear.

 

[Cmaj7th]

Burntmedic you sound alot like me. I always keep looking at ways to enhance my clinical experience before medical school. Ive considered bailing on my free tuition to do RRT, paramedic, RN, and navy corpsman.

but what I realised is you have to be patient. medical school and residency will provide you with volumes more of medical knowledge than anything else you could do so why delay it?

I'd agree with everyone else and just focus on school. also look into other things you can do with your medic cert if you want to diversify your experience. good luck bro!

 

[illegallysmooth]

delete pls.

 

[The right Path]

I just wanted to add that while I can understand that you want to be able to make a better salary, many new RN grads are having a hard time finding quality employment.

 

[Paseo Del Norte]

I had considered most of these points before but reading them from impartial observers has solidified my opinion --- I am going to ignore the RN and simply focus on getting done with my Pre-req's in the shortest amount of time possible with the best grades. I already have a lot of MCAT study material and am reviewing it as I go through the courses (chemistry, currently). It is already proving difficult working full time in EMS while doing this but I will keep everyone posted. There is still always the possibility of becoming a flight medic after three years of experience (I meet the requirements for a busy ground 911 service) ... again, not my end goal but it would be a nice part time job if I could swing it.

Thanks to everyone who gave me the tough advice I didn't want to hear.

Sounds like you made a good choice. Trust me when I say flying is not the fo shnizzle everybody seems to make it out to be. It is very similar to 911 with the exception of a little different operational theatre and perhaps additional exposure to critical care transport.

However, if your goal is to be a physician, deferring from going to nursing school will save you time and money. Good luck.

 

[The right Path]

Sounds like you made a good choice. Trust me when I say flying is not the fo shnizzle everybody seems to make it out to be. It is very similar to 911 with the exception of a little different operational theatre and perhaps additional exposure to critical care transport.

However, if your goal is to be a physician, deferring from going to nursing school will save you time and money. Good luck.

And the pay sucks compared to acute inpatient care. Jumpsuits are kinda sexy though.

 

[AegriSomnia]

I think the pay is a lot higher in certain areas. Where I'm at the flight medics make more than ICU nurses at some of the local hospitals and I'm guessing the RNs are doing all right as well.