Do the people who work in the ambulance service really debrief after every job like on the telly?

[fleurdelee]

I have been watching ambulance and the way they check in after every patient? Do they really do that?
I can't believe they have the time... it's lovely to see and how the teams look after each other as obvs everything they do is so difficult and frequently traumatic but I am surprised at how much they show them checking in "how did you get on with Pat? "

I don't think so but I'd like to know this too.

It all looks very scripted to me.

I used to work in an ambulance control centre and yes it did happen, usually after traumatic and/or emotional calls. We would check on crews ourselves, and crews used to have a debrief with each other before becoming available for another job. This was a few years ago now, but I sincerely hope that even with the current pressures this still happens.

I hope so too.

I can imagine it would happen for a difficult case but I'd be surprised if control checked in with the crew after almost every single visit like they seem to on the show. I feel like that is contrived.

I'm not a paramedic but worked in ED for a long time and we properly debriefed after anything particularly serious or traumatic, any resus episodes etc. That kind of support was usually very good.

Very rarely and only after something completely horrendous.
Otherwise they can't wait to get you back out on another job.

We used to have little ambulance stations and close knit relationships with our colleagues. We would come back after jobs and have time to sit and chat, a lot of the time laughing over things we've been to- even if they weren't laughing matters at the time. Humour is a coping mechanism and we would be unknowingly decompressing just being there with a few close crewmates.
Now it has all gone to enormous hubs with 100s of staff, a lot of whom won't know each other. And we are never there to see anyone anyway.

It is nowhere near the job it used to be.

Plus everything on the TV is edited beyond belief...

Yes, sorry if I didn't make it clear, but it was usually only after something traumatic, not for your standard, run of the mill job. I do agree though about it looking contrived, but that's what makes good TV I suppose.

I would assume there has to be some level of feedback to close the incident off fully? I would think the quality of the debrief varies and is best practice for TV.

They report back to the control room on the radio, and if a job is particularly difficult or traumatic, a full debrief often takes place back at base (suicides, something involving multiple victims or children).
Very high rate of PTSD in the emergency services sadly.

DP is a paramedic in one of the services shown on the BBC and has been asked by film crews to restart his conversation/handover so they can catch it, and has experienced the film crews being quite insensitive to get 'money shots' in patients homes. So definitely not representative of the real job. and definitely no debrief after every job and sometimes not even after 'traumatic' ones. It really is brutal for them at the moment

I am sorry to hear that, and I am not surprised about the issues with the film crews. I have had the misfortune to work with some in the past, and all they want is decent TV.

I know from former colleagues its brutal at the moment, and I am sorry that your DP, and his colleagues are not getting that time that they need.