All sorts of calls stick in my mind—the first
time I resuscitated someone, a particularly nice old lady I
treated, or the difficult case of a vulnerable young child we
needed to refer to social services.
It’s not all about saving lives. People don’t
realise the wide range of patients we treat, especially in London
where there’s people of all ages, religions and ethnic
backgrounds.
Yesterday was a typical shift:
- 5pm: We always get in early to check the
vehicle, because if anything is missing it’s our responsibility. We
make sure we’ve got all our equipment and that the drug packs are
in-date, lights are working, oil and tyre pressure are okay. We
don’t have much time because as soon as the vehicle comes back from
one shift, we are about to start and our first call generally comes
in quickly.
- 5:10pm: My first call was to an older lady
who had been sick all through the day and was confused. We spent
time talking to her to find out her medical history. But she had
dementia and it was tricky to communicate with her so we took her
to hospital for some further tests.
- 6:35pm: Our next call was to a road accident.
Our patient had been on a motorbike when a car turned in front of
him. Although he was catapulted through the air, my assessment
found just some leg fractures. As a precaution though, we put a
neck collar on him and blocks to support his head and then strapped
him to the stretcher board.
- 7:50pm: A teenage girl with a history of
breathing difficulties and bronchitis was our next patient. She
refused to go to hospital, which was difficult because we can’t
force people to go. I just had to advise her to go to her doctor or
local
A&E
if she
felt unwell later in the day.
- 1:15am: After a few other jobs, my final call
of the night was to an attempted suicide. A young lad had slit his
wrists, but luckily the injury wasn’t as serious as it might have
been. He was very distressed though and felt angry with himself. He
needed stitches to his wrist and further treatment in
hospital.
I worked a nine-hour shift last night and they
can vary from eight to 12 hours at a time; earlies, days or
nights.
I always knew a 9-to-5 wasn’t for me, but
shift work suits me. I’ve always had an interest in the medical
side of the job and had taken a few first-aid courses that I had
enjoyed. But you don’t need a first-aid background to begin with.
Just common sense, a good sense of humour and people skills. You
have to be willing to knuckle down and learn, and be ready to apply
what you learn.
I like being out and about, with the
independence you are given to make your own decisions, always with
advice on hand if you need it. I enjoy driving too. Generally my
crewmate and I take turns to drive a shift each, but you can also
work on your own on a fast response car.
The job isn’t an easy option. The shift rotas
can be tiring, and patients sometimes don’t treat you as a
person, they just see the uniform. Sometimes you do end up with
someone being aggressive and pushy, and sometimes they want to take
their feelings out on you. But I don’t generally feel unsafe. We
get training in how to recognise body language and how to get out
of difficult situations. When we’re called to an assault we always
call the police to attend as well, and we wait until they arrive
before we approach.
As a fairly newly-qualified paramedic you
work with different people on most shifts. This helps you gain a
vast range of experience and you can see how different people work
and pick out the best bits.
In this job you’ve often only got minutes to
make a difference. My first cardiac arrest as a paramedic was in
the middle of a restaurant, so we had an audience. The call came in
as a ‘person fainted’ so we did not expect to find someone not
breathing and with no heartbeat. But it went okay. We put all our
life-saving skills into practice, and by the time we were at
hospital our patient had a good heart rate and his blood pressure
was up. What other kind of job sees you making such a difference to
someone’s life?
Louise Downs is 22-years-old and works at Islington ambulance
station. She qualified as a paramedic in April 2008.
If you are interested in a role as a paramedic, check our
current vacancies page to see if we are
recruiting.