I didn’t set out to be a paramedic, but I
knew I was always interested in a career that involved helping
people. I’d considered training as a nurse, or becoming a teacher.
But then the ambulance service caught my eye.
What makes a good paramedic? Strong
communication skills, empathy, and you need to want to help make a
difference. Oh, and it helps if you’re a good driver—especially
being able to reverse!
There’s a lot to learn as you train, and you
have to be willing to learn. But they can’t teach you everything,
so you have to be able to apply your knowledge to any situation and
any patient. There's a lot of problem-solving in that sense. Of
course, when you first go out on the road, it can be daunting, but
you’re not thrown in at the deep end. You’ll be given the chance to
practise your new skills early on, but you’ll get supervised by
qualified members of staff. Over the three years you’ll really find
your confidence grows. Then finally you are ready to do the
job.
They say that working one year as a
paramedic in London is like three years anywhere else. And it’s
true. London is a huge challenge—the amount of 999 calls we
receive, the Underground network, the huge population, the tourist
attractions and the different types of people we treat.
I qualified as a paramedic in June 2007.
Currently I’m working at Kenton Ambulance Station as a single
responder on a car. I like the added responsibility of working on
my own. I enjoy testing my own abilities and it gives me the
opportunity to hone my assessment and treatment skills.
On the fast response car, the idea is that I
arrive at a call as the first response. I assess the patient and
when the ambulance arrives I hand over to them. If the patient
doesn’t need an ambulance though, I can also radio through and
cancel it. Then I can take the patient in my car, or refer them to
a GP, or they may decide to make their own way to hospital.
Because the fast response cars tend to arrive
at a patient first, I often go to the most serious and
life-threatening calls. I go to a lot of imminent births, people
with chest pains, road accidents, and people with breathing
difficulties.
The pressure is really on when you arrive at a
seriously-ill patient. When it’s just you on your own you know that
it is down to you to make a difference. And when you need to get
the patient to hospital, those few minutes waiting for the
ambulance are tough. You just have to do your best.
Of course, sometimes you arrive and they don’t
always turn out to be as serious as was first thought. Sometimes
people don’t know who to call so they will call us. Other times,
people do genuinely think it is serious, or they panic and call us.
Yes, it is hard not to get frustrated when you arrive at a cut
finger. In those cases, you treat them and then you try to educate
them for next time about the different options for care they could
have used.
Night shifts are hard too—five in a row is not
an appealing prospect. And we all find the alcohol-related calls
frustrating. I’m sure when the people are sober they are fine and
reasonable, but after a few pints they just don’t see we’re there
to help.
But other parts of the job more than make
up for this. At Christmas I was able to meet up with a patient I’d
treated after a serious road accident. It was a great feeling to
meet him and he was so grateful. That call will always stick in my
mind because he was in such a bad way and he survived despite all
the odds.
There’s another call that will stay with me
forever. It was the time a couple named their newborn daughter
after my wife. The lady was in advanced labour and I was part of a
team that delivered her baby en-route to the hospital in the back
of the ambulance. What a thank-you that was!
I love being able to help people and I enjoy
getting out and about—you could be on a building site one day and
arriving at a car accident the next. I’m meeting new people all the
time, right across the spectrum. I’m doing the best job in the
world and I can’t believe I get paid for doing it.
Jim Turner is 26-years-old and qualified as a paramedic in June
2007. He is currently based at Kenton ambulance station and works
on a fast response car.
If you are interested in a role as a paramedic, check our
current vacancies page to see if we are
recruiting.