Why do EMT's & Paramedics in the USA allow so many nurses to govern what we do??

Question

In the USA, emergency medical providers that work in the pre-hospital setting are generally overseen, governed, and dictated to by nurses! Why??? In many other countries like South Africa, nurse are generally one step above housekeepers and are in no way allowed to interject their ideas into the world of EMS.

Answer 1

I'm not sure where you work, but in my district I don't have nurses telling me what to do. I enjoy their feedback on occasion, especially if I have a difficult differential diagnosis. However, I have no problem giving them a piece of my mind if my judgment in brought into question. It's another thing entirely if I'm wrong. But my SOG's are written by a physician and not a nurse.

Answer 2

I'm a paramedic in the United States, and to become a paramedic here, we only have to go through about a year to a year and a half of school. Nurses, at a minimum have to have two years of school, and often they attend school for four years. It's not that nurses are better than paramedics, we all just have our different specialties. Some nurses get the idea that they are better than medics, and some medics think that nurses are crap. Life would be so much better if we would all just work together for the good of the patient.
I'd be pretty useless working in a hospital unless I had further training, and most nurses wouldn't know what to do in the back of an ambulance (with the possible exeption of experienced ER nurses).
It's just a matter of what you're good at. I'm really good at pre hospital medicine, and nurses are really good at taking care of patients once I bring them to the hospital.
Hope this helps!.

Answer 3

First of all, registered nurses are much more educated than EMTs. Secondly, we are taking primary care responsibilities of the patients being brought to us. In the hospital where I work, nurses and paramedics are basically treated as equals. There is a huge difference between an EMT who can take a course in a month and a Paramedic with a few years of education and much more stringent national exams. I wonder if nurses from South Africa share the educational standards as American nurses. Perhaps its a cultural thing for women to be submissive in South Africa. In any event, I would never dictate to anyone who knew what they were doing. I wonder if your superiority complex is to blame for what you have experienced. I wouldn't take your attitude either.

Answer 4

As a EMT running app 400 calls a year I feel I have earned the respect of the Nurses,Drs and Brother/Sister EMS providers in my area.My 1st concern is for the Patient . We deliver Pts to 5 diff hospital ERs . When we call in (radio report) we talk to a person at Resoures Hospital who is a Level 3 or Paramedic.They take information and ask questions.Depending on sit. we can speak directly with recieving ER Dr.
So in answering your question, in my area Nurses do not govern EMS. It's a Team effect. We are now working on haveing Nurses (RN and LPN) and ER Drs doing ride time with us so they can see the true diff. between pre-hospital and ER setting.Like I said before , PT CARE # 1

Answer 5

Providing health care to a patient, whether its pre-hospital or hospital, is a team effort. Nurses are a big part of that team, as well as EMTs/paramedics. It is best then for the two to work together. However, nurses in the hospital setting, ER specifically, need to know the EMS system to help provide adequate care.

Answer 6

Here in South Africa nurses are extremely under appreciated even though they have a high level of training. the paramedics here have at least 3 years of training for advanced life support level and we have a mutual respect for each other because at the end of the day its the patient who will suffer if there is any miscommunication. oh we also have a masters and phD coming soon for the emergency medical care program. i regularly work among nurses and doctors as a team in the casualty and tauma units which is a common practice for paramedics here. we work on our own and arent dictated to by anyone except clinical evidence.

Answer 7

I've been berated in ER's by nurses before when I rallied on behalf of my patient. I generally don't take any crap from the nurses (although the ER we usually go to we never have a problem with the nurses) because most of them that I have dealt with have no idea how we operate out in the streets and therefore they need to worry about the pt. when they arrive...not what my protocols are. You want to know what I did for the pt. in the street either ask me or look at the paperwork. I do admire nurses for what they do, they have an enormous responsibility, but please understand I have rules that I have to follow...as do you.

Answer 8

Nobody I know lets nurses govern what we do. Doctors have a lot of say in what we do, but not nurses. They take our report, and if they have a problem with something we did, we pretend to listen, and ignore it. Nurses do not oversee anything we do...ever. Only bad systems have that. Actually, where I work most of us have a good relationship with nurses. There are some nurses who try and cause problems, but most nurses know us and respect us and we do the same to them.

Answer 9

Nurses have more training and experience than you. Sounds to me like you have a problem with women in general...especially women in authority. Get over it. Or, you could always go to another country, where nurses are "one step above housekeepers". OR! Go back to school and become a doctor!! But with your "karma", your supervisor would still be a woman!!

Answer 10

I think the main reason is that nurses are in direct contact with the doctor, they relay back and forth, which gives some nurses that power. Also, some nurses believe they are more superior because they go to school longer and "learn" more.