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| How did you go about getting your current job? |
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When I was looking to become a Paramedic I had to check the appointment section of the national news papers for the position to be advertised. Now the positions are advertised through different methods such as national papers and websites.
When you apply for the position you go through various selection procedures, beginning with responding to the advertisement and completing the application form. After this you have to pass an aptitude test which is followed by a panel interview and medical.
On successful completion of these stages in which you would be awarded scores/ points based on your performance, you would be placed on a panel reflecting the amount of points you’ve obtained. This means the better your performance and competencies the more points you gain, and the more points you gain the higher on the panel you get.
Once selected from the panel you may be offered a place as a student Paramedic and sent to college for training. From there you must demonstrate that you have the ability and competency to become an operational Paramedic by passing the college exams and assignments as well as the State exams to secure a place on the State register*.
*State register; to practice as a Paramedic or Advanced Paramedic in the Republic of Ireland you must successfully complete the exams and secure a place on the statuary register outlined by the Pre-hospital Emergency Care Council (PHECC).
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| Describe a typical day? |
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A Paramedic for the most part doesn’t have a ‘typical’ day, and this I suppose for me and most Paramedics is the attraction to the job. No two calls are the same while they may be similar they’re never the same so there is great variety in the work through the calls and the people you engage with.
Your shift starts with meticulously checking your vehicle and your equipment ensuring everything is in place and in good working order. You can not assume everything works or is there as someone’s life may depend on it.
Outside the routine calls, such as bringing patients to different hospitals for various procedures, Paramedics must work in all kinds of environments, weather and emergency situations. We attend incidents such as serious Road Traffic Accidents, medical emergencies and social problems. Some times Paramedics are called when people don’t know who else to turn too.
The role of a paramedic is very demanding and it is challenging to ensure the patient receives the best level of care. This may be using specialist medical equipment or through administering any of wide array of medications to keep the patient alive. There are lots of situations or emergency calls when you feel under a lot of pressure, for instance, trying to resuscitate somebody in front of on looking family members or trying to save somebody and free them from a serious car crash - this can be a lot to deal with.
There can also be the harsh reality that despite all your efforts and determination the person may die in front of you. On the other end of the scale however, to directly save a persons life is immeasurable.
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| What are the main tasks and responsibilities? |
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My main tasks and responsibilities are broken into two fields as Leading Paramedic (station supervisor) and Advanced Paramedic and they are broadly as follows.
- Check, replace and maintain all the equipment on a daily basis
- Check your drug bag is fully stocked and all drugs are in date
- Respond to all calls dispatched by Ambulance Control centre
- Attend further training and continuous medical education courses in order to keep your skills and knowledge up to date with latest developments
- Organise and arrange rosters on a weekly basis for station
- Fleet management at station level, ensuring vehicles are equipped and serviced ready for operational use
- Providing basic life support and defibrillator training to other Emergency Services and members of the public to progress the national cardiac strategy, in response out of hospital cardiac arrest.
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| What are the main challenges? |
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Shift work! This can be difficult especially when you have a family, the shifts are 12 hours long which is a long time to be away from home, and because of the nature of the work sometimes you get called out just when you’re getting set to go home.
Sometimes its difficult and challenging to remain compassionate and courteous when you respond to tragic situations that may overwhelm you, such as a drunk driver who has crashed and killed somebody and is now abusing you while you treat his/her injuries.
As the work of a Paramedic and Advanced Paramedic is very dynamic it can be hard to keep up your studies while trying to balance everything else, learning ‘just enough’ is never good enough as the more you learn the more the patient you treat will benefit.
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| What's cool? |
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Responding to Emergency calls is pretty ‘cool’, all the action and the excitement. This can get your adrenaline going, having to think on your feet and getting to use your skills, medications and equipment.
Driving on blue lights and sirens is pretty ‘cool’ too. Although most of the time when you arrive at the scene of an incident, things are bad. However, there are still ‘cool’ times such as delivering a baby in the back of the Ambulance or a car at the side of the road, that can be magic.
It’s a great feeling when you learn new skills or administer new drugs and you can see the patient improving immediately.
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| What's not so cool? |
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Although you have the excitement and action of responding to calls the reality is when you arrive you have to deal with some horrific things, you will sometimes see people in great distress and suffering. On a positive note though once you get to do your job and use your skills you normally improve things.
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| What particular skills do you bring to your workplace? |
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I suppose the life experiences I’ve picked up along the way, through doing other jobs have helped me enormously as a Paramedic. These give me the confidence to be like most Paramedics I know;
- Outgoing
- Ability to work as a Team
- Use commonsense
- Be impartial and non judgmental
- Work well even thrive under pressure
- Good people/ interpersonal skills
- Enthusiastic
- Generally up for a laugh and craic!
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