What is the difference between nurses and paramedics?

A paramedic is a health care professional who works in emergency medical situations and provides basic or advanced life support treatment in a pre hospital situation. They usually work in ambulances, emergency response vehicles or even bicycles. They provide a initial assessment, a diagnosis and a treatment plan. They are dispatched from Ambulance stations or sometimes Hospitals. They respond to any emergency medical situation that they are dispatched to and provide treatment and Transport to a hospital for further advanced care. Nurses are healthcare professionals who work in a hospital or elderly care facility(primarily). There focus in on care of individuals, families and communities. Nurses are a very important component of our healthcare system. You usually see a Nurse before you see the Doctor. Nurses work under Doctors.

Main differences:

Skill Set/Scope of practice: Paramedics are emergency specialists, because they work in emergency scenes by themselves(2 EMTs per ambulance) there very good at thinking on there own. Nurses are generally in a hospital where they can call for a Doctor at any time. Paramedics can perform certain advanced skills that no other HCP can perform besides a Doctor such as intubation, cricothyrotomy, intraosseus infusion and more. They can also interpret 12 lead ECG. Nurses are very good at giving medications and focusing on patient care, they are very compassionate and good at there job.

Education: To become a Paramedic you take a college level course, generally about 2 years. To become a Licensed Practical Nurse/LPN(first level of Nurse) it takes about 2 years also at a college level course. To become a Registered Nurse it takes 4 years at a college or university.

Location/Work environment: As mentioned above Paramedics work by themselves in emergency situations and are dispatched by Ambulance to a scene. Nurses work generally in hospitals.

Pay: The max a Paramedic can make is about 90,000, in Canada if you are a Critical Care Paramedic it can go up to 100,000. Nurses tend to get about 70-150,000.

Opportunity for Advancement: There are 3 levels of EMT in the US and 3 levels of Paramedicine in Canada. Not as many chances for advancement but there are definitely still some. There are 3 levels of Nursing, but Nurses can specialize in certain areas like pediatrics, surgery, emergency and so on.