Paramedic or a Nurse??

My name is Scott and im 15 and i was wondering weither i should be a Paramedic or a Nurse. I would like the excitement of being a Paramedic but not the Salary. I would like to help ppl being a nurse and the salary sSO PLEASE HELP??

My brother was a paramedic first and then became a nurse. He would have preferred to remain a paramedic, but his asthma discouraged that.

I would say a nurse because you have more opportunities. You could work for many different companies and do many different things.

this question is not for this place

paramedic it's so much more hands on, but saying that the country needs more specialist nurses so i suppose it aldepends on wether u want to be more in the midst of whats going on or if u want to be there for more of the care.

Why not do both? You could always be a paramedic part time, and work as a nurse like in the E.R. or wherever part time. Or be a flight nurse. But you really have to think whether it is the job you enjoy, or are you just in it for the money.

i guess you are looking for pros and cons of these careers from experienced practioners? however, only you know what will work best for you. try volunteering at both positions and see which one you think works better for you. Salary should never be your main drive. If you find a career you love, the salary will work out on its own....

i say be a respiratory therapist..50+ a year..i make more than 60k cause I'm a traveler..more than a nurse..it's less schooling too..plus you really get to save life's..chest tubes, vents.arterial blood lines. trachea's..work with premature infants that cant breathe,your in every surgery because your on a vent. good career.

and if you travel..you get free housing and travel..I make on average depending on what state i am in 46 dollars an hour

BTW.I only had to go to college 18 months at my college..most other places are 4 years..what state do you live..

Try to set up a shaddow with a nurse or a medic. Understand that both jobs have very dull moments.

Medics will likely see more exciting moments, but will deal with a lot of scum and waste a lot of time.

Nurses have much more mundane patients 80% of the time. The work schedule for both usually sucks unless you can tolerate rotating schedules.

I would rather be a Medic. I know Medics don't make as much as Nurses but you have to think about how long modern EMS has been around. Most people don't know this but prior to the late 1960's, funeral homes services would pick people up in a hearse and drive people to the hospital. You didn't get the mini hospital on wheels that we get now.. The point I'm trying to make is that EMS is still in its infancy. Prehospital medicine hasn't been around that long so when we better organize on a national level we will better our standing as a true profession, and with that the pay would increase. Nursing would offer you plenty of sub specialites once you reach the masters degree level. Whereas EMS is pretty much a mainline career unless you work in a non traditional role. The whole goal is to give the patient the best care and its in the hospital where they will get definitive care. There is only so much you can do in the field. Just depends on how you want to help people. Whether its cutting a hole in their throat while their lying on the kitchen floor so you can breath for them. Or monitoring their condition over a longer period of time and helping their bodies heal.