Physiotherapy or paramedic science?

[moshmoshi]

DD just finished Y12 and is trying to decide between these two. She has been previously veering between physio and sports science but now has mentioned becoming a paramedic.

I personally think physio seems like it be a more varied career with more scope for promotional working abroad which she's keen on. J don't want to influence her apart from saying let's make a pros and cons list for both.

Any experience with this decision or advice from current students/parents?

She needs work experience in both in order to get on a degree ( for most unis) for precisely this reason.

But- have a look at the NHS Careers website and their channel on YouTube for preliminary info.

There are lots of opportunities for promotion and different roles as a paramedic. There are lots of avenues in an NHS ambulance trust (critical care / urgent care specialism, educational roles, management roles), and outside too in primary and secondary care. I’d suggest she thinks hard about whether she would be happy working shifts as this will be part of her training and early working experience even if she does move in to a different role other than that of a frontline paramedic eventually. I’ve personally done lots of different roles in my paramedic career - happy for you to pm me if you’d like more info. (I am currently involved in paramedic education.)

Tganks @Dotcheck she has arranged some physio work experience in the autumn, not sure if paramedic work experience is possible? She's been lifeguarding at the local pool as well.

I don't know an awful lot about either career beyond what I can find on Google! Hopefully she can arrange to speak to paramedics if no work experience possible and to physios in different roles. From my limited understanding I think she'd be good in both careers, I just think being a paramedic might be more stressful and have fewer opportunities for variety of types of job and work places. Like I said though, I don't want to influence her to my p.o.v but just help her find the info to make an informed decision.

I started a physio course years ago at Sheffield Hallam years ago and couldn’t hack the scientific part of it and dropped off the course really early on. I thought it would ok with my biology C grade a level but I struggled in the first year and thought I would never be able to complete the course. It’s a lot of science (not sure if this is still the case) so if she’s really into/good at biology/kinesiology then I would recommend great career path and opportunities. I had to do 2 placements and spent 1 with a private physio doing clients and care homes and the other at an NHS physio clinic, did a few days in each If I remember correctly, I really enjoyed the placements I was gutted I couldn’t hack the theory. jobs were hard to come by back then (like 15years ago) but assume it’s picked up more.

Thanks @SunUpSunDown that's really helpful. I didn't realise there was such a range of careers. I'll talk to her about shifts and maybe pm you if she has specific questions. She's strong and physically fit, calm in a crisis (has had a couple of emergencies as a lifeguard) and has very good communication skills so I think she has a lot of the personal qualities she'd need. Can I just ask how stressful you found frontline work?

One involves night shifts and back breaking long shifts with high stress and high burnout rates although very rewarding.

The other does not involve night shifts and possibly ( based on those I work with) less stress .
Both pay the same, physio certainly can go into private practice and clinically both professions can advance with equal opportunity.

personally I’m steering my dc to careers with a quality of life - not careers that will ruin their health and well-being. Appreciate that’s brutal but 30 + years in nhs has that effect.

It absolutely sounds like she has some great qualities for the job. I only work a few shifts a month now due to my main educational role. I’d say personally for me it is less about the acute stress, and more that there is a risk of burnout (long shifts, lots of non-emergency work and more social work, physically demanding, etc.). Many paramedics do not stay frontline for their entire career as a result (when I first started, it was generally a job for life). Burnout, however, is a problem across the entire NHS, so she may have the same issue if she was an NHS physio. There is obviously some acute stress involved by the very nature of the job, but ambulance services now are better at ensuring debriefs after critical incidents. There is also far more support than in the past. Absolutely feel free to pm me if she has any questions.

Paramedic will be working unsociable hours/nights/public holidays. Physio will mainly be office hours plus oncall rota. If in private practice then probably some early evening and Saturday mornings.

These may or may not be relevant depending on other interests in her life

My DS (24) is a paramedic - he did paramedic science - a 2 year course at Uni
He did not do any paramedic work experience but he did (IMO) have a good, well-rounded CV:
Volunteering
P/T job
Scouts
D of E
St John's Ambulance

He did Public Services BTEC

But to get on the course he needed to pass his driving test as as soon as the course started they did ambulance shifts - proper shifts earlies nights etc

He also had to pay for his own uniform/ stethoscope etc which I thought was a bit unfair

He has been working for 4 years now and is on the fast car response

Money wise - he has been able to do a lot of travelling and bought his own place (along with gf) at 21!

I've been a paramedic over 20 years and it is a very different job now to the one I joined. I'm very glad I'm coming to the end of my career and not just starting out.

However, if she is insistent, then I highly recommend going the direct entry route as opposed to the uni route. She will avoid the £27k odd of fees and will get paid from day 1. Much quicker route too. And she'll still get a degree at the end of it all.

Also I have seen that he certainly has a v dark sense of humour now - a coping strategy?

Get her to look at ODP training too. It’s a great career!

32 years also in the NHS. Nurse.
This ^ x 1000
At 18, juggling a young family in a stressful shift working role was the lat thing on my mind. Many years on I would advise anyone to think long term and choose very differently.

I am employed part-time by a university as a visiting tutor to physio students, which entails visiting them on placements to see how they are getting on, both professionally and personally, liaising with their supervisors to see if the student needs any assistance in any aspect of their role. There is huge demand for physios and my better students walk into good jobs when they qualify. Usually it's best to be on rotation when you first start full-time work to get experience of all the different aspects of the job, but once you have a bit more experience it is possible to specialise in a particular field if you wish to do so. Work-life balance is pretty good, I would say. There might be occasional evening or weekend work but nothing like it is for a nurse or paramedic. It sounds like your DD has the right personality for the job, for sure. You also have to be quite bossy, or so I'm told!

ODP is another great career choice. Basically all roles in the operating theatre. Still involves shifts but at least you’re inside in a warm dry place. (Unlike paramedics!)
Physiotherapy is great career - so many options and as others have said mainly office hours which is a huge bonus as you get older.

Depends which area of physio you're go in to - all the inpatient physios in my hospital do 7 day service and the respiratory team do overnight on calls which they get called in quite a lot.

I get strong impression that physiotherapists have very high job satisfaction, they can seem to work miracles, they get to know their patients more, they don't work under huge pressure.

Paramedics barely meet their clients but is better for high energy people who get easily bored & don't mind less relationship with the patients. Paramedics burn out more, they see more emergency distress and end up with stupid targets.

The two roles are so different and it depends very much on your personality, which would suit you.

Physio tends to be much more planned and slower moving. A paramedic needs to enjoy adrenaline and a fast paced environment and enjoy the challenges of a frontline role. As a nurse I struggled terribly with working shifts and especially nights. Your work schedule is a massive consideration between these two roles. The professions are very different and work experience is definitely necessary to inform your daughter.

Physio every single day of the week. You get to pick your specialty and therefore define your hours. The physio team I have worked with were able to reduce to part time hours, like working with their 3 most interesting patients only, when they had children and one physio cut back their practice hours so they could complete research.

A paramedic doesn’t give you the same flexibility at all.

I have friends in both areas.

Physios have the scope to move into private and work overseas.

Paramedics have the scope to work overseas - and have a bank of deeply traumatic experiences including being attacked and assaulted regularly to adjust to.

Both make a huge difference to people's lives, but it's not the physio friend who has PTSD as a result of work, it's the (wonderful, caring) paramedic who has things that keep him from sleeping.

Being a paramedic should be by far the most varied career in healthcare, and when I started 17 years ago it absolutely was. However, in the last 2 shifts I have waited outside a&e twice for 9 hours, one of these patients wasn't even my own having been handed over by the shift before.

It is utterly soul destroying, it's boring, there is massive negativity towards us and the wider NHS from patients, relatives and the public as we are not providing a safe service let alone the cutting edge 21st century care we want to provide, and which everyone deserves in a genuine emergency situation. It is also terrifying the rate of skills decay that we are all experiencing, this is bad for the patient but also leaves a chronic underlying stress for staff, I sleep very poorly the night before work, I sleep like a log the rest of the time.

This is all as a very experience paramedic. The impact on student paramedics, trainee EMTs and newly qualified paramedics will be far far greater.

This is an article in the independent, I haven't read it, but probably worth a look

www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/uk-news/student-paramedics-ambulance-training-b2107061.html

Basically my advice is don't do it! But if she is really adamant then she should get a job as an ambulance care assistant or EMT and see whether she really wants to waste time, money and sanity on this career route.

It has to get better, as the ambulance services in many parts of the UK are in collapse, so it simply can not go on getting worse.

I've been in 17 years and I'm not even half way to retirement .

Physio for sure. Much more scope for being self employed and setting your own practice up.

@EgonSpengler2020

I'm not close to retirement either- I was 19 when I started.. But once I've got 30 years under my belt I will be looking to leave and do something else!!

Think with physio it's really going to depend on where you end up as to the hours of work - if you're acute ward-based in an area like stroke rehab you're going to be much less 9-5 (or 8-4) than if you're in a community team doing the same role a bit further along the patient journey post-discharge. Loads of different areas to look to specialise into though.

I'd support the rotational posts comment someone made though - I've just qualified as a SALT and taken a rotational post - quite newly established in our trust, but you work around a range of different areas rather than rushing into finding a "niche" as a new band 5.

Also a shameless plug for speech and language therapy as well - fantastic in terms of variety of areas to go into!