Ah LN, but I disagree... You must know that 90% of what they teach you in nurse training is 'fluff', most of it is concerned with being a 'reflective practitioner' and other beanbag sciences. At least it was when I trained to be a nurse. But that aside, we are supposed to be judged on what job we do. And in my experience, nursing was much easier than ambulance work. For example, on the wards, my daily routine was... Wash patients, feed patients, give patients drugs, get a set of obs from each patient, evaluate and update care plan, sort out social care, more paperwork, lather, rinse repeat until end of shift. This is physically tough work (Heaven knows it was too much like hard work for me), but you can do most of it with your brain in 'neutral'. If there was ever a problem the patient could be handed off to a doctor. (Yes, I know that there is more to nursing than this, and they may have added more since I left, but you get the gist). Notwithstanding the incredible denseness of ambulance training - I doubt if I could have done it without my nursing background (neurons and neurogilia in an afternoon, better learn it well, because you are getting tested on it later). We also have to work essentially alone, being autonomous practitioners, and having to make split second decisions about patent care rather than having a ward meeting. Let me put it another way - I could nurse, even in A&E, while *ahem* hungover. I could never do that in ambulance work. Nursing is fairly repetitive physical work, while ambulance work is more mental, with bursts of incredibly back-breaking physical labour. I've find myself using all my nursing skills, plus ambulance skills every day. My collegues, who don't have nurse training also use nursing skills that they have picked up from the old hands. All the above is meant with the greatest respect to you and the nursing profession - I think you guys should get paid more than when I was nursing, but it doesn't mean that we shouldn't also get a comparable amount as well. You should try to get a rideout with an ambulance crew - most places are happy to arrange it, and it'll give you a better idea of what we get up to, and why we are worth more than hospital cleaners... With Respect - Tom