I'm a paramedic AMA

[Blobbyweeble]

I've been a paramedic for 10 years working for an NHS trust in England. Happy to answer anything whilst observing patient confidentiality.

Thank you for answering my previous question and hope you don't think I was being flippant. I have a friend who was a paramedic and ended up with PTSD after a particularly difficult call. I think this is not uncommon?

And again I would like to thank you for what you do.
Can I ask another question that was kind of asked before? I had a panic attack with chest pains and called 111 for advice. I knew it was a panic attack as I suffer from them but hadn't had pains before and wanted advice on how to stop the pain. 111 called an ambulance as I had triggered symptoms of a heart attack. I knew it wasn't that and told them it wasn't that but the ambulance came anyway. Does this annoy you? Perhaps annoy is the wrong word, but I knew an ambulance wasn't necessary but it was sent anyway. And after assessment the paramedic agreed that it was a panic attack and went away. I felt terrible for wasting their time and hoped there wasn't anyone waiting that genuinely needed help.

My DD wants to become a paramedic, thank you for an enlightening post about your role and also to the paramedics who bypassed my local hospital and got me to the specialist stroke unit which meant I could be thrombolised in the small window of opportunity. I firmly believe this changed my outcome and enabled me to make an almost full recovery. You are all blooming amazing and I’m so proud of DD’s career choice 😊

I’m allergic to paracetamol, aspirin and opioids - do you routinely carry any pain relief that would be suitable for me?

I wear a medic alert bracelet so there wouldn’t (hopefully) be any issues with being given drugs I’m allergic to but I worry I’ll be stuck without appropriate pain relief.

@TiredPony No I wouldn’t see that as a waste of time. 111 will almost always send an ambulance if you mention chest pain.
@MaitlandGirl What do you normally take for pain relief? It would be difficult as the pain relief we carry is paracetamol, ibuprofen, codeine, morphine and Entonox ( aspirin isn’t routinely given for pain relief) so realistically your options would be ibuprofen or entonox.
@NotSoFlatStanley National protocols state that definite stroke symptoms should always go to a specialist stroke centre if it can be reached within 4 hours of symptom onset. This has hugely improved outcomes for stroke victims. Good luck to your dd, it’s a fantastic job.

Bloobyweeble hasn’t thought of entanox, I loved that during labour!! The only pain relief I’m allowed to take is ibuprofen or voltarol (diclofenac).

It’s very reassuring to know that I have options in an emergency situation. Many thanks for your response.

We don’t carry diclofenac and the ibuprofen is in tablet form and you would have taken that before we get there I would assume. If it was something like a major trauma incident then hens carry ketamine which might be an option. It must be very difficult for you.

*HEMs not hens.

Thanks for your answer.

I'm not a repeat caller, but have had other people call for MH reasons on me a few times (and one stupid OD situation that I'm really ashamed of), but spread over the past 12 years really - I think mainly because they've been scared and haven't known what to do, rather than it being a medical emergency. They've always been kind to me, but I do wonder if it's been really frustrating for them. I would engage with the services, if they had me.

I kind of think there should be a separate MH emergency number in an ideal world (apart from the anonymous things like Samaritans, who can't actually do anything for you, and are no good in a situation where the person in a crisis can't talk or are detached from reality). In my area all the MH crisis services have been severely cut back, especially out of hours ones, and aren't accessible to those who aren't under crisis services already. I assume that must have caused the local paramedics a big increase in these kinds of calls :(

Thank you for the work you do

How did you become a paramedic?

@ZispinAndMushroomTea Don’t get me started in MH services! Unfortunately there are such an increase in the need for MH services plus massively increased need for social care services and a limited pot of money and the emergency services end up picking up the pieces as there’s no one else.
@Strawberrybelly Almost by accident really, I was working in finance, bored and looking for a new challenge. I’d always been interested in working for the nhs and saw an advert for an eca which is a non clinical role driving and assisting the paramedic/tech, got that job and then applied for student para funded by my trust, went to uni and the rest is history as they say.

Hey, I know this is an old thread would love to ask some questions regarding training as a paramedic x

How do you remain so calm? I had to call an ambulance for a lady having a fit and whilst I did hold it together externally, I was flapping inside. This angel man came along and was so calm, no rushing and such a wonderful manner.

You’ve already partly answered my question regarding mental health. What training do you get and would you like more?

Sorry just saw that this is an old thread.

What happens if you are called to a house with one adult and children and the adult needs to go to hospital but there is nobody to have the children.

When I thought I needed an ambulance I didn't call one because of my DCs so was up in agonising pain all night with no idea what it was.

Sorry, had a bit of a break from MN but back now if anyone is still interested.

LouB1990 Ask away 😀

Butterflyone1 I don’t know, you just go into the ‘zone’, concentration on what you have to do helps plus knowing that whatever is happening panicking never helps. I was always calm in an emergency even before I became a paramedic even if I was terrified underneath. We can be quite brisk if someone is noisily panicking on scene and getting in the way or distracting us from our jobs. We do understand that people are scared but we do need to manage interference especially where children are the patients as visible panic from parents etc causes more distress to the child and increases their pain.

Littlechocola We get a little bit of training, probably one lecture from a mental health nurse, would like more but tbh most of my work with mental health patients is a combination of instinct and experience.

miserablemyrtle We would try and get a relative to come and look after them if we needed to take the patient in but remember 50% of cases are left at home so you wouldn’t necessarily be taken in. If we couldn’t find anyone suitable and we could fit them in the ambulance safely we would take them with us. If it was too traumatic a job, a cardiac arrest for example, or a major trauma then we’d get the police to come out and they would deal with it. I’ve never known that to happen though. Most people have a neighbour they know enough and who is happy to sit with children until a family member gets there.

I recently had to call 999 because a flare up of Ulcerative Colitis had suddenly escalated and I couldn't get hold of any of the usual routes. I did say I didn't need it ASAP but I didn't think I could get to hospital any other way. The ambulance people were lovely and said they'd been a bit dubious until they saw me. They took me in on iv fluids and paracetamol and I was admitted. However I still worry I was misusing the service.
Given you don't know me, how would you feel about a call like that? We're 45 minutes in a car from A&E.

What do you think of people who have self harmed or attempted suicide?

I read somewhere there are now specialist mental health ambulances in some parts of the country, do you think there should be more of them?

on an average day, if there is such a thing, about 25% of jobs are real emergencies.

I'm quite shocked at your estimate, it's such a huge waste of resources if around 75% of call-outs are non-emergencies that could be dealt with another way.

How do you think these unnecessary call-outs could be lowered? You mentioned the first aid training in Germany, using common sense, etc.? Do you think a small co-pay would make people think twice? I'm just appalled at the waste!

No questions just a massive THANK YOU for what you do. Having had the misfortune of attending A&E for the last two nights i can only describe NHS workers as actual saints.

It was a heart breaking place to be. Drs nurses and paramedics stretched to breaking point. Trolleys backed up outside the entrance. Paramedics unable to leave patients to attend another job. We waited an hour to be triaged yesterday. My mother has an aneurysm. All that time the paramedics couldn't leave.

A&E itself is bedlam, beds stacked in rows in what should be the thoroughfare.

I don't know how you keep going but im so grateful that you do

AlunWynsKnee Think that job was a waste of time? God no, you needed immediate treatment, tbh, that sort of job is really satisfying, we can do something and make people feel better which is what we joined to do.

Re self harming and suicide attempts, I feel dreadfully sorry for the patient and frustrated that I can’t do more to help due to lack of resources. Sometimes with self-harmers who are stable and don’t want to go to hospital we can get a specialist para out to suture on scene which seems to work. I do sometimes feel frustrated, rightly or wrongly, with people who frequently and loudly threaten to kill themselves to their preteen and young teenaged children. The fear in the eyes of those kids stay with me. There is often neglect and children parenting their parents. It means their lives are such a struggle and whatever help we put in place for both parent and child is often rejected, mostly by the parent but sometimes by the child who is influenced by their parent.

Unnecessary callouts are a complete minefield, some are because of the enormous pressure on primary care services but I think reducing them would need a whole culture change. People now think everything can and should be cured immediately. Colds, coughs, tummy bugs all seem to be viewed as emergencies, self care seems to not exist for a lot of people. I do a lot of nodding and smiling and encouraging people to take their own paracetamol. I try and do a lot of education too, six hours of d&v in a normal healthy adult, or even a healthy child is not a cause for concern. Telling me you haven’t taken any pain relief for your pain that doesn’t stop you having an animated conversation with your mates about their relationship issues because ‘you don’t like taking pills’ isn’t likely to get a sympathetic response from me.
Mobile phones are a boon and a curse, people who wouldn’t walk 3 yards to find a call box now can phone from their passing car to report someone who looks a ‘bit funny so might not be breathing’ without stopping to even watch from a distance. That comes through as a potential cardiac arrest and I get diverted from a elderly chap who’s fallen and is on the floor, only to find that said cardiac arrest is very obviously moving and is just having a snooze.

Lem, thank you for your kind words, A&E teams and ambulance staff, at least at the hospital I go to, work as a big, rather stressed team, more or less constantly under pressure but just about surviving.

Sorry I’ve given up tagging posters, copy and paste on my iPad is too much for my tiny brain.😀

@Blobbyweeble oh that's a relief, thank you :) I've been worrying about it! and thanks to all the ambulance staff.

Firstly, thank you for the job you do. I realise it's training and experience that makes you able to do it, but I also think you need to be a special kind of person to do it too.
You've answered some questions about being annoyed about calls that aren't emergencies etc, my question is the opposite.
Do you get annoyed that someone(or other services) have allowed something to escalate to the point it's life threatening, without seeking help? And then you have to pick up the pieces?
I think this often happens in mental illness, I have a friend who recently attempted suicide and really tried to get help but just got sent home with different anti depressants and she couldn't cope any longer.
For me though, I was misdiagnosed by a GP, I had symptoms of gall bladder infection and gall stones. The pain was agony but he said it was ibs so I carried on taking the pills and just getting through. I got quite ill over time and didn't seek further help and early hours one morning my DD rang 111 - I was vomiting and in so much pain, I don't really remember much of it tbh, but I remember saying I didn't need an ambulance when they arrived.
I was wrong and would have died without medical help. I'm ashamed that I could have possibly prevented that by going back to the Dr, or to a walk in clinic before it got that bad - I just thought I was being a drama queen!

Just want to say thanks for doing an awesome job!

A thank you and like a few other request for reassurance. I broke and dislocated my ankle a few months ago. I called an ambulance which was going to be a couple of hours (Friday morning about 9am) My parents were able to get me to hospital though it wasn’t a great ride. (Involved a ride on a desk chair as well as a car.) I made sure to call the ambulance to stop them coming.

I have autism and would find it hard to ask strangers or even neighbours to help me and now not living close to my parents. Asking professionals like Dr/NHS for help is easier.

is it be a waste of ambulance time for someone (without autism) calling for a painful ankle they can’t walk on? A couple of friends said if I just had a painful ankle I shouldn’t have called, would have wasted NHS resources-get myself there. That plays on my mind.