Diary: Week 12

Week 12 brought my first week out on the Ambulance. This meant meeting my Mentor for the first time, getting to know those I'd be working with on my Station, and getting into the swing of things out on the road.

This week I was on a double crewed ambulance (DCA), this meant working with a Technician and my Paramedic mentor. On my first shift, I learned what equipment and consumables should be on the back of the vehicle and where to get anything that we were short of - by the end of my 4th shift I was comfortable doing this without prompting after seeing what we seem to use alot of and not alot of during out shift.

Read on to find out how the rest of my week went.




Next it was waiting for that first call to come through, I didn't have to wait long. I'm currently based out of a very large and extremely busy City, this has the bonus of meaning you're never too far away from a Hospital but on the flip side of that, it also means alot of people to call 999. My first shift saw back to back jobs where I got to grips with taking Patient Observations including ECGs, Blood Sugars, Blood Pressures and more and getting in amongst some moving and handling.

Luckily for my Patients, none of them were too sick on my first day - that changed over the next three shifts as I came across Overdoses, a patient on the brink of cardiac arrest, patients struggling for every breath,a victim of a violent assault, and a serious and quite sad RTC. As I sit here now, with a few days off until my next rotation, I can't help but think how different and difficult dealing with acute medical emergencies are in comparison to the work I carried out in the Army. My Patients in the Military are young, fit, and healthy men and women - not elderly patients with a list of medication as long as your arm and multiple comorbidities. Trauma is easy compared to this and at times it was overwhelming how little I actually know, years and years of Medical training in the Army and I feel like a complete amateur out here in the big wide world.

Luckily I don't have time to dwell on thoughts like this for very long as the constant banter from my crew mates don't allow for it. My first week is now over with and I absolutely loved it, there was boredom, laughter, sadness, tiredness, hunger, excitement, anticipation, and discomfort - I wouldn't be anywhere else and I can't wait for my next shift where I'm out on a Rapid Response Care for the week.