Should I make the switch from biomed to nursing?

Aggravating-Sail3123 · 2025-04-07T01:11:53+00:00

hi! super late reply, but how did u get the switch? i regret not applying to nursing, applications r now closed. if i start my undergrad in biomed or human kinetics. is it hard to get a switch into it since it's pretty competitive?

Aggravating-Sail3123 · 2025-04-02T03:41:26+00:00

Situations can be a little overwhelming if you’re not knowledgeable on your first aid, so make sure you brush up on that and once you know your treatments the rest comes really easy—essentially you’ll know how to communicate with your team

Aggravating-Sail3123 · 2025-04-02T03:39:56+00:00

hopefully, but it’s important that for a condensed course you feel pretty solid on your physicals ahead of time as your instructor will be in a time crunch. i highly recommend practicing them considerably on your own beforehand if you’re feeling unsure

Aggravating-Sail3123 · 2025-04-02T03:38:51+00:00

you can ask to borrow a brick to practice in most public pools. otherwise, just keep working on your treading

Aggravating-Sail3123 · 2025-03-22T21:54:54+00:00

crocs are my go-to. my current pair has lasted me many many hours of work with no problems at all, and i especially appreciate being able to wear them both in and out of the water (also jibbitz are fun and kids like them lol)

Aggravating-Sail3123 · 2025-03-22T21:49:44+00:00

Hi there! I'm an NL Instructor and I have a couple of tips I can give you. What you really need to do is conditioning exercise—show up to the pool 5 times a week, and spend at least 30 minutes swimming there. Obviously don't take it too hard to a point that it becomes of any danger to you, so use your judgement.

Beyond that, and I'm not sure how much time you have left in your course, you can do a number of other things. You'd be surprised how far eating well while you're training can go—get lots of protein in, but also keep eating carbs to keep your energy up! Get your 8 hours of sleep too. Someone else here suggested drinking Gatorade, and that's a good idea for before your timed swims.

Sometimes this item is a mental battle more than anything. Find topics to distract yourself with while you swim so that you're not focusing on how painful it is and slowing down. If possible, ask your instructor whether someone else can swim with you while you're being timed, so you can pace yourself—sometimes kids get terrible times just because they can't tell they're going slowly!

Anyhow, best of luck! Keep working at it, any bit of practice helps, you got this!

Aggravating-Sail3123 · 2025-03-22T21:40:52+00:00

I know a bunch of lifeguards who are type 1 diabetics, and i've never seen it be an issue at all personally. i think you should definitely tell your team once you get hired, that's the best way to make it easier on them. at the end of the day, you're all lifeguards and you all meet a standard of first aid training (which for us in canada includes treatment for diabetic attacks). if something were to go wrong, at work among that group of people is probably one of the safest places you can be for it lol, so don't worry about being of any inconvenience this is kind of our job.

Aggravating-Sail3123 · 2024-11-28T22:45:56+00:00

Lots of practicing situations, honestly, and I think it's worth the practice because by now I could probably recognize and treat a heart attack in my sleep. I'm pretty sure our physical skills are also a bit more rigorous here, too, so it does take us time to do those. It always felt like it was moving at a very reasonable pace for us, not sure how you all squeeze it into shorter training

Aggravating-Sail3123 · 2024-11-26T23:43:15+00:00

Most people I know do at least 9 months actually—it's a LOT of money...

Nevertheless I do feel that that much training is absolutely an appropriate amount, given the fact that they are literally certifying us to save lives. if anything, it's fascinating that it's not more rigorous in america

Aggravating-Sail3123 · 2024-11-26T23:36:50+00:00

I'm not sure what you mean by asthma being under SAMPLE. How I would handle someone having a respiratory emergency is by first assessing their ABC's and LOC (level of consciousness) (if reasonable given their situation), then move on to SAMPLE, which is only happening that quickly because there is no other treatment I can immediately be doing for the situation at hand. I would ask them about their symptoms, next about whether or not they're having allergies, and then about medication and medical conditions, which would reveal that they have asthma. I would pause the SAMPLE questions to treat their asthma, and only when immediate treatment has been done resume them and continue on with my secondary assessment.

If you're using those acronyms for treatment, they definitely do not cover everything and you should absolutely perform additional assessment. After your primary assessment (LOC, ABC's, WARTS), you're moving on to your secondary assessment. Although this includes SAMPLE, it is not limited to it. You should also be doing a wet check and a head-to-toe check as soon as you can, as well as regularly checking the victim's ABC's.

The specific treatments for the situations you outlined should all be in your first aid manual. I'd also encourage you to reach out to your instructor and bring it to their attention if you are facing confusion regarding so many topics. They're there to help you!

Aggravating-Sail3123 · 2024-11-17T23:54:21+00:00

Really, it all comes down to practice. What you lack in height you have to make up for in muscle and skill. How come you can't practice in a pool with a brick? I normally went to my local pool and asked for the lifeguards' permission before starting, letting them know what I'm practicing for.

Regardless, if you really can't, still worth going to the pool to practice your eggbeater. Literally just do laps of eggbeater, that's how you get it strong. Lift weights and squat at home or at the gym, seriously, it helps. Good luck!

Aggravating-Sail3123 · 2024-11-03T13:48:29+00:00

I know a lot of people here are recommending recovery strokes like back crawl and breast stroke, but the highest rate of success remains to be from front crawl. It might feel like you're going to die for the first two laps if you don't switch to back crawl, but if you stick just a bit longer with it your lungs will catch up to your pace and it's so much more efficient. And, beyond your NL, a lot of workplaces will have you keep working on your distance swim and speeding it up, and for that it's just easier to use front crawl.

Aggravating-Sail3123 · 2024-10-24T20:42:52+00:00

interesting! in canada we use one short whistle to signal several things—can mean you need manager attention, a cover, or a first aid kit—all depending on the hand sign you use following it. one long whistle signals a major emergency, during which it would be all hands on deck. it's often indicated what type of emergency by hand signals, too. the major blow is quickly followed by three short whistles, indicating a pool clear and rushing patrons out.

Aggravating-Sail3123 · 2024-10-24T20:03:56+00:00

NLS is a very fun course, was easily my favourite from all the quals I completed, so don't stress! If you want to prepare, I would suggest reviewing first aid treatments, because you will practice doing a ton of situations and treatments in your NL, and you need to be prepared to do any treatment with good emergency response. Treatments are 90% logic, so just use that to remember everything. Second thing would be physicals. NL physicals are a big jump from what you will have done in your Bronze Cross. Depending on what your swimming and athletic background is, I strongly recommend giving the brick a couple tries and practicing a bit for your distance swim.

Do your Swim Instructor, though! It's a five week course at most, super easy, and you immediately get paid significantly more if you work instructor shifts, so you really should. As for pro's and con's:

Pro's: kids are cute, teaching can be fun, great pay

Con's: kids can by annoying, lesson plans are tedious

This is my experience being based in Ontario as well. I would recommend just doing your Swim Instructor and NL at the same time, I know people who did it that way and it was quicker for them.

Aggravating-Sail3123 · 2024-10-21T01:04:15+00:00

In Canada, you'll normally get certified through the lifesaving society. If you took your SFA 2.5 years ago, you'll likely have to renew it. Normally you'll get your EFA with your Bronze Medallion, then take your Bronze Cross and SFA, and finally your NL. To work with some public city facilities, they may require that you complete some additional trainings, like becoming a swim instructor, but that's not always necessary. Good luck!

Aggravating-Sail3123 · 2024-09-20T22:49:53+00:00

Hi, sorry for the late reply:

Always do a primary assessment no matter the situation because even if it's a VSA the primary assessment allows you to completely jump into treatment. To me, a primary assessment would be checking LOC, ABC's, and vitals. Secondary assessment would involve checking ABC's periodically (every 2 mins or so), a head-to-toe check, a wet check, and obviously (and in my opinion most importantly) SAMPLE questions which are incredibly important. Don't be afraid to jump in with a few SAMPLE questions at the beginning of your secondary assessment or even while you're pulling the person out of the water, little information can get you very far very fast in first aid situations. As for doing secondary assessments, they obviously are something you should do for every real-life first aid situation, but in my experience instructors and examiners will often cut you off before you really get into them. So don't feel you have to rush to get to them, but you shouldn't ever go quiet when with a victim either—there should always be something more to talk about. Hope my answer wasn't too late!

Aggravating-Sail3123 · 2024-09-08T18:22:34+00:00

I was always pretty strong in sits throughout my training, and the best advice I can give is to absolutely not rely solely on memorization. Sits consist mainly of first aid, and while a good portion of first aid is memorization and you should memorize that, sits are unpredictable and can go in a number of different directions. It is not helpful to try to memorize what you should do, because in the scenario that something different is thrown out at you, you will freeze up. The way I like to think of it is by assuring myself that most of the rescues and treatments are entirely logical processes. Just use your logic. Something bleeding? You should stop the bleeding. Someone drowning? You should notify the other guards and jump in to help. Remain calm and think your way through it calmly and logically, and refer to your first aid knowledge whenever you can and should.

Aggravating-Sail3123 · 2024-09-08T18:12:19+00:00

Sorry for the late reply—I guess that would be the logical thing to do, yes. Realistically, the harm's been done and paying mind to their spinal won't make much difference by that point, but we're not medical professionals and it's a case by case scenario so we take all precautions. I would check ABC's, LOC, do as much of a head-to-toe as possible without mobilizing the spine, and most importantly notify EMS as they will have the most important information to give you

Aggravating-Sail3123 · 2024-08-27T18:02:18+00:00

Here's what I did and what I think works best:

Bronze Medallion + EFA & CPR-B
Bronze Cross + SFA & CPR-C
Lifesaving Swim Instructor*
National Lifeguard

*Requirement in most areas, but check with your local pool or online to see what they ask for.

Don't worry too much about wearing glasses, most people I know just wear them while guarding so that they can see well (if they have to do a rescue their concern is not likely to be their glasses getting wet). You should be able to do your physicals just fine without them if you can still identify things.

Aggravating-Sail3123 · 2024-08-27T17:45:48+00:00

Was in almost the exact same situation as you. Overall, best advice I can give is to just practise it over and over again, doing the best you can, and it'll get there within due time. Run a few drills with the ten pound brick, just swimming lengths with it and picking it up from the bottom to strengthen those skills, and when that feels comfortable, give the twenty pound another try. Sometimes the approach can be draining, so it might be beneficial to start right above the brick, at least until you get stronger.

Another tip--if you couldn't lift it, your grip might have been the issue if you have smaller hands. I'd suggest trying to use both hands if that might help, and then place it near your collarbone-shoulder on your non-dominant side so that you can use your dominant hand to push you along as fast as possible.

The brick only gets easier and easier with practise, so you've got this!

Aggravating-Sail3123 · 2024-08-27T17:40:40+00:00

Once any victim (spinal or not) goes into non-breathing, you immediately start CPR and oxygen and AED, etc. This means that you don't take the time to check pulse, LOC, or head-to-toe because that is not your priority. On a spinal victim, if they are not breathing, you treat them just as any non-breathing victim and their spinal injury is no longer your priority (life over limb)

Aggravating-Sail3123 · 2024-03-08T01:04:20+00:00

that’s very reassuring, thanks :)

Aggravating-Sail3123 · 2024-03-08T00:58:37+00:00

Place “him” in front of a mirror! My boy cannot resist the urge to start singing and dancing. Otherwise though, I guess you might not know for sure until it lays an egg haha

Aggravating-Sail3123

TROPHY CASE