Ask a Paramedic anything at all...
Discussion
Inspired by other threads, of which I have enjoyed the insight, so I thought I might do the same. Ask within reason though, obviously 
and we're seriously constrained by patient confidentiality too, so some answers might be a bit vague. I won't be entertaining 'flippancy' or gore hunters, by the way 
Oh, and I work ridiculously long hours on shift work too, so the replies might take a while haha!
We're definitely having the most challenging winter I have ever seen so far too, it must be said. I'm proud of my Trust, the NHS and my colleagues, and what they've all managed to achieve in light of such adversity so far.
and we're seriously constrained by patient confidentiality too, so some answers might be a bit vague. I won't be entertaining 'flippancy' or gore hunters, by the way Oh, and I work ridiculously long hours on shift work too, so the replies might take a while haha!
We're definitely having the most challenging winter I have ever seen so far too, it must be said. I'm proud of my Trust, the NHS and my colleagues, and what they've all managed to achieve in light of such adversity so far.
DrDeAtH said:
Do you feel like telling some of your 'customers' to just cop themselves on and deal with their trivial ailment/injury?
If so, how often?
We're fortunate that we're given huge responsibility as autonomous clinicians, and as such, we can advise a patient that their presenting complaint may not be appropriate for an A&E admission. We also have alternative pathways that we can use too - e.g. I can call either the patient's GP or one of our out of hours GP's and arrange either for the patient to attend them, or for a GP to come and visit them in their house. If so, how often?
I can also refer to other teams, such as community nurses or mental health.
If the complaint would benefit from an A&E admission but is not life-threatening, I sometimes ask if the patient's partner can drive them into A&E themselves, thus freeing me up to see the next patient.
Of course, if a patient insists that I transport them to hospital then that is their prerogative and I have no problem with that.
4x4Tyke said:
What proportion of callers turn out to be time wasters when you get there?
What was the worst time waster you've had to deal with?
So, I always try to put cynicism away and treat every attendance on it's merits. What some people forget is that I am a qualified clinician, but members of the public are not. What may seem trivial to me, might have seemed serious to someone calling 999. What was the worst time waster you've had to deal with?
I go by the mantra that if someone felt that they HAD to call 999 for whatever reason, then that is good enough for me. Then if it does turn out to be a bit of a waste of time, I can then advise them accordingly, or use one of the alternative pathways I have described above.
Conversely however - I have also attended patients that have apologised because they thought they were wasting my time, but turned out to be VERY poorly. So, like anything in life, swings and roundabouts!
Haddock82 said:
Ray Luxury-Yacht said:
fido said:
what’s the most perverted incident you’ve been called put to? e.g. someone with a hoover nozzle stick up their orifice
Nope. Next!We all know the main question we all want is "What is the weirdest thing you found up someones bum?"...!
You wont hear the end of it until we get an answer!
Pyrolysis said:
Have you ever attended an incident where you thought you were out of your depth or where your training and experience had not prepared you, due to the magnitude of what was presented to you?
Fortunately not a frequent experience, but yes I have if I am honest - mostly when I had only just qualified though, I think. In my first week following qualification, I was sent out to work single manned for three shifts, which was a bit daunting!I'm two and a half years in now, and I reckon I can say with a degree of confidence that there's probably not much, if anything, that I would attend now, and not be able to cope with, if I was first on scene. We are rapidly exposed to all and every type of situation from the word go, and hence quite quickly build up a mental check-list or algorithm if you like, that we automatically drop into once we've recognised the issue.
It's also amazing how quickly you start to be able to recognise what's going on, as you walk through the door and get eyes on the patient - even before asking any questions. That's not to sound flippant of course, but it's nice that on many occasions following getting a comprehensive medical history and a full set of observations, that the clinical diagnosis matches my initial gut feeling, if that makes sense?
Also, again I am fortunate that I can call on a numerous amount of back-up resources who usually arrive on scene pretty damn quickly. As I said before, we're trusted to make the right judgement - and so I can summon up four million pounds worth of Eurocopter EC135 with Doctors on board on my say so. Or our Hazardous response team experts who carry everything from climbing and ab-seiling gear to NBC suits.
I might suggest that the two main fears any ambulance crew has to respond to, are children in cardiac arrest, and major incidents which involve multiple casualties. Anything else we've probably got covered in a calm fashion!
Bdevo3 said:
Have you ever had to perform cpr on very beautiful buxom babe and had to pause a second to marvel at the beauty of her milk bags
Question 1 - yes;Question 2 - no, and I mean that honestly. I can get my porn kicks elsewhere outside of work - if someone is in cardiac arrest when I arrive on scene, then I am too busy / professional to even think about that sort of thing.
Besides, we spend a huge proportion of our days looking at naked bodies anyway - so like any job, it gets quite routine quite quickly and so not something any more than that.
Ruskie said:
I feel like answering these questions honestly, but I’m a bit more jaded then Ray and my answers my not be as diplomatically what people expect/want to hear.
I'm probably similarly jaded privately Ruskie - however I am doing this to maybe help educate PH and the wider public and so, have parked that for a moment haha! Come on mate, your contributions would be valued too.magooagain said:
Do you think at any point you might move into the private sector?
Private ambulance sector? Well, despite the better wages - the work is too sporadic, there's no NHS pension, and I don't like their ambulances. Don't get me wrong, they serve a purpose - but they're mostly van conversions and I personally don't like them and would not want to work on them. Ok I know some NHS trusts use them too, but ours fortunately use properly converted Mercedes Sprinters with a 'W.A.S' body on the back. Lovely machines with proper space and equipment. I also like the fact that the engines are V6 turbo diesels - this is Pistonheads, after all! Private sector out of frontline response? I won't rule it out one day. At the moment I love my job and being out and about, especially as I work out of quite a rural station and hence am driving through beautiful countryside a lot of the time. However it IS a hard job, and can be incredibly difficult physically at times, extraction wise, so I MIGHT be able to see a time when my body gets too old to cope with it and I may move into something else.
As registered Paramedics, we're getting increasingly sought after by many other different sectors, it must be said.
Phunk said:
How many times have you been assaulted?
How did you get into the role?
Not once, fortunately. Maybe it's because I work in a fairly nice, often affluent part of the UK, or maybe I have just been lucky, I don't know! How did you get into the role?
Some of the more challenging mental health cases I attend, have had the potential to go down that road, but as some who is old enough to recognise the warning signs, I am really wary and careful, and don't ever put myself in a situation where I might get caught out. Some of the youngsters dive in regardless of the consequences - that's not me haha!
How did I get into it? Good question! In 2011 I had sold my business and had got to my 40th Birthday. I felt at a bit of a crossroads in life - I wanted a new challenge but wasn't sure what. I've always had a bit of a fascination in medicine however, but only in the background really - it wasn't like a driving force. Although when I was working in my last sector I was sent to head up a financial project at a huge factory in Poland that made medical equipment and prosthetics, and when I was there, looking at the false knee joints and stuff, I DID think to myself that I wish I had done something medical.
After selling my business I was in the luxurious position of taking a year off completely, to decide on my next move. Whilst at home watching a lot of telly, I spent a fair amount of time looking at all those ambulance programmes on TV. A bit of a corny cliche, I know - but slowly it dawned on me that actually - I wanna do that! Plus as I had done an apprenticeship when I was 16 instead of college - Uni, it meant going to college and Uni at 40 years old, which sounded like fun!
And it was fun, I loved every minute of my training. Looking back - the job is not really like I saw on telly those years ago, it must be said. But it IS ok, and I am happy to be doing it. On the days when I get a bit jaded or annoyed, which let's face it, can happen in any job - I might walk into a shop or somewhere, and the staff will smile, tell me how much they admire us all and give me a discount, or a member of the public will approach me out of the blue and say something similar. Then it reminds me why I am doing what I do, and it makes me smile that we're held in such high esteem. I appreciate that, and I don't treat that flippantly.
Cold said:
My daughter had a nasty crash just before Christmas (she's alright - sternum damage and smashed foot that's been repaired, pinned and plastered now).
While being preppped to go in the back of the van she was insistent that she wasn't leaving unless she had the contents of her car boot with her as she knew the car was about to go to a yard possibly never to be seen again. She persuaded the paramedics to load up the ambulance with her suitcases, bags, laptops and suit holders. The hospital staff and I were tripping over the damn things in resus!
Was she lucky to have found a very helpful medic, or was she super persuasive, or is this a normal thing?
That's normal. I'm quite happy to help people in any way I can, it's not just about the medical stuff. We're also the eyes and ears and assistance to our communities, and to that end, I'll do anything within reason.While being preppped to go in the back of the van she was insistent that she wasn't leaving unless she had the contents of her car boot with her as she knew the car was about to go to a yard possibly never to be seen again. She persuaded the paramedics to load up the ambulance with her suitcases, bags, laptops and suit holders. The hospital staff and I were tripping over the damn things in resus!
Was she lucky to have found a very helpful medic, or was she super persuasive, or is this a normal thing?
For example, I might go to a poor old dear that has fallen without an injury early in the morning, who has got up to go to the loo. So I'll pick her up, dust her down, check her medically and then if I manage to do that fairly quickly (I don't waste time 'on scene' unecessarily either) then I will make her a cup of tea or even fry her a couple of eggs or whatever if it helps her to relax and get over the shock of falling and laying on a hard floor for two hours or whatever.
Muzzer79 said:
Have you ever really struggled emotionally with not being able to save someone from death?
Curiously enough, no never (although as Ruskie has said - I'm fortunate to not have had a child death yet - THAT might change my mind!)From trauma jobs at RTC's to the elderly and everything in between - I rationalise that the poor person at that time in their life has suffered an event which was life-threatening. I've arrived after that fact, and all I have is my skills and my ambulance and equipment. I do everything I can to give them the best chance of survival, but it is only what I can do physically as a human being - I'm not God after all and have no delusions as such!
Hence, if after my interventions they still die, then that is that - they were unfortunate enough to have had to face that today. I'm quite pragmatic in that respect.
Ruskie said:
As an aside here is a link to a thread about me using my paramedic skills in a very different setting (don’t know if you saw this Ray?)
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Wow - no I didn't see that but I am reading through it now. You're clearly a veteran compared to me too obviously!!https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Ruskie said:
Phunk said:
Would you recommend the role to others?
It's something I thought about in the past, but the idea of studying and doing exams put me off (I'm awful at writing what's in my mind down on paper!)
It’s tougher to get on now. Easiest way is to start in the assistant role and work your way up. Other way is to go to Uni for 3 years but if you are mature then that’s difficult for obvious reasons.It's something I thought about in the past, but the idea of studying and doing exams put me off (I'm awful at writing what's in my mind down on paper!)
Would I recommend it? Not so sure anymore. It destroys your social life, family life, and mentally and physically it is very demanding. Not many more rewarding jobs but you pay for it in my experience.
Would I recommend it? A big hmmmmmmmm......again as Ruskie says, if you have a family then it's difficult. I'm fortunate(?) enough to have no wife or kids, and my last girlfriend left me a few years ago and that was fine for me - I am kinda embracing the single life now haha! So for me it matters not working shifts ( in fact I am curiously strange in that I love the shifts - I abhor being part of the normal 9 to 5 rat race) or having over-runs and having to work important family days like Christmas Day etc.
As a job - it can be the best and the worst in the world, depending upon the sort of day you have. If you like being out and about, and looking in other people's houses, then it is brilliant. On those occasions when I DO manage to change the course of someone's immediate demise and prevent it, well then, you go home feeling on top of the world.
And as said, socially - everyone DOES love us too, anywhere I go in uniform I often have people giving me lovely compliments. It's also a brilliant ice-breaker, if people ask me what I do and I tell them, they love it and want to talk to me all day! Sometimes though if I am not in the mood and they ask - I just say I am a van driver haha!
I would say that, if you ARE considering it as a new career - then do lots of research. There is tonnes on the internet and so you need to make up your own mind, I think.
HTH.
Ruskie said:
Ray Luxury-Yacht said:
Muzzer79 said:
Have you ever really struggled emotionally with not being able to save someone from death?
Curiously enough, no never (although as Ruskie has said - I'm fortunate to not have had a child death yet - THAT might change my mind!)From trauma jobs at RTC's to the elderly and everything in between - I rationalise that the poor person at that time in their life has suffered an event which was life-threatening. I've arrived after that fact, and all I have is my skills and my ambulance and equipment. I do everything I can to give them the best chance of survival, but it is only what I can do physically as a human being - I'm not God after all and have no delusions as such!
Hence, if after my interventions they still die, then that is that - they were unfortunate enough to have had to face that today. I'm quite pragmatic in that respect.
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