How to become a Paramedic – Key Basics

About the role

In the UK, paramedics are usually the most senior ambulance service healthcare professionals that attend personal accidents and medical emergencies. Larger incidents, such a coach crash, may involve a hospital Director of Traumatology Services taking command of the situation. As highly skilled individuals in advanced life support techniques, paramedics are regulated by the Health Professions Council (HPC) to carry out many of the duties of a medical doctor working in a hospital A & E department.

On arriving at the scene of an emergency, paramedics are trained to examine, evaluate the patient’s condition and provide vital treatment using modern high-tech equipment for example, defibrillators (which restore the heart’s rhythm), spinal and traction splints, intravenous drips, oxygen and over 30 essential drugs.

It is important to know that apart from patients, paramedics also have to deal with other individuals present who may be distressed or violent, especially verbal and physical abuse from alcohol-related call-outs. As such the work is physically demanding and may be psychologically and emotionally stressful.

Employability

Like doctors, paramedics need sound judgement in a crisis to do their job and everyday they carry out a wide variety of emergency assignments. This means that as well as their advanced life support skills, paramedics require other, softer skills, such as grief counselling and violence mediation. In general, the primary skill sets and attributes necessary are

Being decisive, cool and professional under severe pressure
From the results of the preliminary assessments and in consultation with the client, identify the need for further assessment, appropriate intervention or referral to other services or agencies
Formulate a provisional diagnosis from the analysis and integration of case history and assessment findings

Career Entry

Paramedic science is an evidence-based subject that applies both vocational and academic inputs and currently, degree and non-degree paramedic qualifying programmes are jointly approved by the professional and regulatory bodies.

There are currently three ways to HPC paramedic registration. The basic entry level can be achieved by passing either a university diploma or university foundation degree (FdSc) in paramedic science. Both types of course each last 2 or 3 years full time and entry requirements can be academic as usual or vocational via the Accreditation for Prior Learning (APL) or Accreditation for Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) gateways.

Finally, and gaining increasing favour amongst ambulance services, however, is straight BSc Honours in Paramedic Science such as the one at the University of Hertfordshire.

Employers & Salaries

Virtually all paramedics work within the NHS Ambulance Service now organised regionally, such as the North West Ambulance Service www.nwas.nhs.uk