Anyone an Ambulance Technician or Paramedic?

[gscrym]

I work as a manufacturing technician. I also to emergency response cover at work (fire-fighting, first aid, driving an ambulance etc). One of the full time fire fighters at work has organised for us to do observer shifts with local paramedics which I've done a few of. I've had a few medical shouts at work as well. Everytime I do them, it just says more to me that this is what I really want to do. Our occupational health nurse has told me to qualify as a nurse and then train to be a paramedic. She's offered help and tutoring for this. Unfortunately, I can't afford to give up my job to train as a nurse.

The other thing is, I screwed things up financially (credit cards, loans, you name it, I buggered it up) so I'm in a trust deed at the moment (like an IVA). That finishes in 3 years. After that, I could afford to take the drop in salary to become an ambulance technician.

My questions are:-

1. Would I be too old at 40 to do this?
2. Can I go in to train as an ambulance technician or would I have to go through patient transport.

Any advice would be great. I was so pleased when the nurse said she saw me doing that. I felt really good at work for the first time in ages.

Sounds as though you're in Scotland, so a bit far away (I'm in Kent/London borders) so can't offer local knowledge. I'm not in the trade, so to speak, but I have been a Red Cross emergency response volunteer for 10+ years in London so have some reasonably relevant experience.

Training to be a nurse first is a bit weird, as it sounds as if you are interested more in the acute care field and to become RGN you need to do the entire gamut of rotations which may not float your boat.

If you can afford the time, join your local Red Cross/St Andrews/St John group (www.redcross.org.uk, www.sja.org.uk, don't know the SAA site) as this will a) give you valuable experience of hands-on patient care and b) demonstrate to potential employers that you have the commitment.

Most NHS ambulance services are quietly dispensing with the 'technician' role and moving to a model whereby ambulances are crewed by at least one paramedic and one 'emergency support' person - essentially a trained response driver with first aid and manual handling skills. The idea being that paramedics are experts in pre-hospital care, study for a degree in paramedical science (I think Herts Uni offers this currently) and they are supported by what is essentially a response driver/porter who is trained in the basics. If you join RedX or SJA you will be trained to at least this standard as a volunteer, so this will stand you in good stead when your trust deed comes to an end and you can think about it as a career.

All the best - I hope everything works out for you.

Yes, I'm in Scotland and it is more the acute care end I'm interested in. Thank you so much for the help on this. I had thought of joining as a first responder (they're the volunteer side of the Scottish Ambulance Association) but unfortunately, I work shifts full-time so I wouldn't be able to give the same hours each week. I'm a trained first aider and do emergency response through work (a big chemical plant).

I would be hugely happy for a redundancy payout with a nice lump of cash which would make the decision for me. Then I would need to get accepted.

i'm a nurse in scotland and understood that the only ways to become a paramedic were to either do a specific degree level course or go down the patient transport route. My friend who is an ICU nurse was interested in becoming a paramedic but he was told that the nursing training isnt compatible so would effectively have to retrain for another 3 yrs and off the top of my head, i dont think there is the SAAS bursery.

why dont you actually call the scottish ambulance service and ask their advice.