What's it really like being a PARAMEDIC please?

[54isanopendoor]

I have a young person who is interested in studying to be a Paramedic
(in Scotland, Degree requirement just introduced)

Can anyone in the field please give me an idea of what it's like as a Career?

(we spoke to the Uni, to Careers at School & also watch TV but it's not enough)

(No experience but) Bumping for you.

I don't know personally but the series 'ambulance' is on bbc Iplayer and shows the variety that can be involved in the job. Obviously it's heavily edited and doesn't show them sitting for hours and hours outside of a&e waiting to take the patient in but it's a good watch anyway for someone interested. Definitely still speak to people in the job but thought I'd suggest this and also bump the post 🙂

Oh interesting. I have a young person interested in this career path too and it’s a hard one to get work experience in to see if they will really enjoy it. It scares me though, she is sensitive and wants to help people. But recently my friend’s 14 year old died and 4 ambulance crews were out and couldn’t save her. I don’t know how anyone recovers from that, much less a sensitive teen herself. I’m following to see if someone comes in with more insight.

My sisters friend & her husband are paramedics., one is off sick & one has been redeployed both due to trauma & stress of the job.
Every paramedic has the 'one job' that gets to them.
It was the traumatic death of a baby that led my sister's friend to get redeployed, although she was already traumatised by seeing car accident deaths, & other sudden deaths.
Actually what made her very sad were the call outs to the many elderly people living in awful conditions having repeated falls & not being able to do much about it.
Her husband had similar experiences but the one that got to him was a self harming girl who he was called to every week for attempted suicide... she came to rely on the ambulance being there on time but one day he didn't get there early enough..

They say most paramedics are on sickness reviews & warnings for sickness.

I've been a Paramedic for the last 25 years - I now work in a GP surgery but did 20 years out on the road on the ambulances.
I would say its a fantastic career! Yes, you do see some sights and have to deal with some pretty upsetting things but the network around you is very supportive (mainly from colleagues rather than management) It really is like another family.
Downsides are shift work and the manual lifting that you have to do does take a toll on your back and knees. Also I think as I have got older I have realised that it has made me rather emotionless as you do get so used to seeing upset/injury/trauma and you do become a bit immune to it after a while.
I have not regretted a single day in the service - yes, I had many sad days, but in my experience the highs seem to outweigh the sad times.
Don't get me wrong - There have really been some horrendous jobs that I have been involved in, but I have learnt to be able to recognise that regardless of the outcome, I know that I did the best job I could have done under the circumstances which helps deal with the sad/traumatic jobs.
It has shaped my life in more ways that I can explain - Mainly good things!!
Hope that helps!