Sarah Christopher, Senior Lecturer at the University of Lincoln
To be completely honest I stumbled into the career by accident after starting as a part time doctor’s driver for the then Lincolnshire Ambulance Service. Almost immediately on having exposure to front line crews I knew being a paramedic was something I wanted to do. 26 years and a lot of blood, sweat and tears later it’s a decision I’ve never regretted for a single moment. My passion for the profession has never waned and I’m now lucky enough to be helping to educate the paramedics of the future.
Over the years the job has brought tears and sadness, happiness and hilarity, stress and calm. You can move from one extreme to another from job to job in a matter of minutes. So many incidents spring to mind from major multi-systems trauma incidents to the 4am call out to the man convinced he had passed an earwig in his urine!
Throughout it all one lesson remains the most valuable. It’s the small things that count! The TV depicts us dashing round on blue lights like superheroes saving the lives of those unlucky enough to experience life-threatening injuries and illnesses. Yes, sometimes it’s like that, although not the superhero bit, I take offence at that! One Christmas saw me have such a run of trauma I was presented with a tinsel bedecked inflatable scythe by A&E staff! But more often than not, the things that matter to the people I have cared for have been seemingly far less significant. Making a cup of tea and having a chat with the lonely older person in the wee hours, changing a dirty and uncomfortable bed and washing a patient, allowing loved ones the time to pack a bag, providing dignity and reassurance, making sure pets are catered for when their owner is suddenly admitted to hospital, mending a tap (yes, really!) and making sure there’s food in the fridge, being patient, empathetic, non-judgemental and compassionate and often diffusing situations with humour even when there seems to be nothing to laugh about.
Would I have chosen a different career if I had the chance to turn back the clock? Not a chance! It’s an honour and a privilege to be a paramedic.
Melinda ‘Dolly’ McPherson, Advanced Clinical Practitioner, University Hospital Southampton
I came to study Paramedicine later in life. I had previously been a stage manager in musical theatre, traveling around Australia and then Europe. Oddly it was an experience during this time that made me want to pursue a career in emergency care.
During one of the rehearsals for a show, a young cast member collapsed in cardiac arrest and required CPR. No one else knew how to perform CPR, so the task fell to me (despite not having learned the skill since I was a child).
In the following weeks, many of my colleagues struggled with the impact of what had happened, but I felt that the act of ‘helping’ during the arrest was a protective factor in how I coped with the event.
It prompted me to start some self-directed learning on basic first aid and life support, which it turns out, was the start of my interest in learning and reflective practice. It took several years to be in a position to enroll in a Paramedic science university course, but I have since never looked back!
Andy Collen, Consultant Paramedic, South East Coast Ambulance Service, NHS Foundation Trust
I became a paramedic in 2000, just prior to the introduction of professional registration and having completed the IHCD training course. Prior to this I had undertaken patient transport and technician roles, having joined the ambulance service in 1994. I joined the NHS in 1989 as a hospital porter, which I had intended to do as a summer job before going to college and on to university. I found myself enjoying the healthcare environment and soon began to speak regularly to the ambulance crews who came to my hospital. To cut a long story short, I decided that I would join the ambulance service as soon as I turned 18, but unfortunately for me the entry age changed to 21 that year so I decided to stay on as a porter until I could apply. I am hugely proud of my 5 years as a porter and this time gave me such a good grounding in speaking to patients, families, and other healthcare workers.
Having successfully joined the ambulance service, and working towards my paramedic qualification, it was clear to me that I did not want to stay still and began to look at opportunities. I spent time working in the control room on dispatch and secondary triage, and later I became a team leader. Around 2005, I was fortunate to be selected to join the first cohort of “emergency care practitioners” on what was then a diploma pathway. Shortly after completing this, I reduced my hours with the ambulance service to work in a Walk in Centre which gave me a huge amount of experience in minor injuries and illnesses. More recently, I have taken a 1 day a week role in a local GP practice in their urgent care clinic which gives me a much-needed opportunity to provide care for many patients versus the numbers I can see in my ambulance trust role.
My involvement with the College of Paramedics began to increase around 2009/10 and I was asked to become involved with the work to introduce independent prescribing for paramedics. This work culminated in a change in the Human Medicines Regulations in 2018 and is one of the proudest moments of my career, having worked in an inspirational team within our profession, the wider AHP community, and NHS England.
I completed an MSc in advanced paramedic practice in 2013 and the year after was appointed to a consultant paramedic post at South East Coast Ambulance Service. This role is wide-ranging, and includes developing post-graduate urgent care, clinical governance, clinical leadership, and supervision, supporting medicines governance, and (of course) undertaking operational shifts.
In 2018, I commenced a 2-year secondment with the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB). I was delighted that they selected a paramedic for this role and became the first AHP to join the branch, working alongside other healthcare professionals, safety scientists, and human factors practitioners. While the knowledge and skills I obtained around systemic safety remains a tangible aspect of my secondment, I also learned a huge amount about the impact of healthcare accidents on health professionals and care givers (second victim phenomenon) and I have taken these concepts back into my trust role, becoming more involved in developing our approach to investigations and just culture.
I am extremely proud to be a paramedic and have had such an enjoyable career to date. I look forward to shifting my focus more towards leadership and helping others to seek and exploit opportunities to have a diverse and fulfilling career – particularly those from underrepresented groups.
Samantha Thompson, Forensic Paramedic and Senior Lecturer in Paramedic Science
When I was 14 years old (which was before paramedics even existed) I attended a first-aid course. The instructor showed us a video of a pedestrian walking down the street and coming upon a person who had been knocked off his bicycle. The patient was laying on his back and clearly unconscious. The pedestrian looked with curiosity at the patient before walking off down the street to a telephone box to call an ambulance. He then returned to the scene and stood watching as the supine patient twitched, vomited and completely occluded his airway.
The ambulance crew arrived (little more than stretcher bearers in those days), looked at the patient, looked soberly at each other and shook their heads sadly before then looking accusingly at the pedestrian.
In their pedestrian’s head we hear him say: “Why are they looking at me like that, I couldn’t have done anything……… Could I?”
The scene then rewinds to the pedestrian coming upon the patient, but this time before leaves for the telephone box he turns the patient into the recovery position. The ambulance arrives, the patient is transferred to the ambulance which leaves with its bells ringing.The last shot in the scene is the patient and his family walking together, smiling and happy, ready to continue living a full and productive life.In that moment, I remember thinking I never wanted to be in a position where I didn’t know what to do, and my future as a paramedic and everything that happened since was cast in stone.
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