What is it like being a nurse?

You have to make people better

Fyremin's answer is probably one of the most ignorant I've read in awhile. Clearly Fyremin is not in any type of medical profession including Paramedic. He sounds like a bitter EMT who didn't get into nursing school. Being embarrassed by personal hygiene is not a good trait for a health care professional. Either Fyremin is about 12 years old or just displays the maturity of a 12 year old who has watched too many Third Watch reruns. His whole attitude towards "nasty patients" further demonstrates he lacks knowledge about health care. As posted in PA4545's answer there are many, many opportunities for nurses. They can expand their scope to whatever the job calls for and extend their education to advance their career. The Paramedic is primarily limited to an ambulance or fire department. If they work in the ER, a nurse will supervise them. The few hundred hours of training limits their scope of practice and career growth unless they are with the fire department and can advance as a firefighter...not Paramedic. Paramedics also do not make a medical diagnosis. They make a field diagnosis to intiate some protocol be it right or wrong. Only Doctors, Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners can make a medical diagnosis. As a Flight Paramedic, they will be partnered with an RN who will have the advantage of education and critical care experience which will make them the team leader.

This is a bit long, but if you want a good answer, take the time to read it: I've been a nurse - and I'm a veteran and a father and husband - for more than forty years. Doctors do not MAKE people better - they help people make themselves better. To do this, they use a variety of tools, one of which is nursing staff. The nurse is, among other things, the eyes, ears and hand of the physician. The arts and sciences of medicine and nursing are complementary, not exclusionary. For example: in surgery, there is a job known as "scrub nurse" wherein the nurse assists directly in the operation by passing instruments, holding retractors, preparing sutures, wielding suction devices, applying dressings. There is also the "circulating nurse" who moves about the operating suite making certain the needed tools are ready and available, fetching supplies and materials which are needed as an operation progresses, and who controls who and what enters the operating suite. The "circulating" makes sure the "scrub", the surgeon and the anesthetist and anyone else authorized to be in the operating suite is properly gowned, masked and gloved. Circulator communicates with others outside the OR if necessary during a procedure. Each of these jobs demands an extraordinary level of training and experienced, and of course, OR is a very high-stress job. I stayed for six months before deciding the stress wasn't worth it and moved to a charge nurse position elsewhere in the hospital. An RN is responsible for aftercare of surgical patients and directs caregivers such as Practical Nurses and personal care assistants - sometimes called "nurses aides". An RN is a teacher - as an RN I taught a smoking cessation class open to the public. Others of us teach diet and nutrition. Still others work with licensed therapists in occupational and recreational therapy. There is a very important area of nursing called "Industrial nursing" in which we are the daily health resource for factories and major business offices. Among other tasks assigned such a nurse is keeping track of a businesses compliance with various state and federal regulations, such as those mandated under OSHA. As an RN, I went back to college to study public health. By the time I was ready to retire, I had been nursing supervisor for a 300-bed hospital and consulted on a daily basis with business and community leaders on matters of public health. In retirement, I still consult on such matters on a regular basis. Becoming an RN is not merely wiping some old fart's butt and taking temperature and blood pressure. It's a highly skilled and respectable job - and I don't regret not having gone to medical school in the least!

What it's REALLY like: Nurses wipe *** and give people baths. They are not allowed to clinically diagnose, they are not allowed to treat or even give aspirin without getting a doctors written order. You won't have to be great under stress because any time anything difficult arrises a crew of doctors and PA's are going to jump in and take over and just ask you to either chart or hand them things. Working in an ER or an OR will require you to work on a floor or in a nursing home until you get enough experience or find an open spot in an ER/OR, as most people want those positions as well. If you want to save lives, start with Paramedic school, you learn a lot more, get to do a lot more, and don't have to wipe ***. Plus you can still work in an ER as a medic if you really want to. You will still get a ton of BS calls and nasty patients, but as a paramedic if you choose to go to med school you will have a huge advantage and get in a lot easier.