As a health care professional, a paramedics role is focused in medical emergency situations. Paramedics are usually the first on scene and generally in an ambulance, however they are also based in specialist mobile units, as well as emergency response vehicles. Paramedics’ work is unscheduled care which includes minor and major injury, illnesses etc. They are the first to administer care to a patient. A paramedic’s role requires advanced levels of care, they work with high-tech equipment in attending to emergency situations such as defibrillators, they administer drugs, intravenous drips, as well as giving oxygen, prevent shock, control severe bleeding and prevent spinal damage etc. (Becomeaparamedic.co.uk, 2019)
Once they have arrived at the scene, paramedics will assess and monitor the condition of the patient and quickly work out a decision with the goal of saving the life of the patient. This decision will involve the appropriate treatment to be administered immediately, before transporting the patient to hospital. On arrival at hospital paramedics must provide detailed written documentation about the patient they are taking in. Paramedics are directly involved in saving lives. Anyone aspiring to become a paramedic must possess certain characteristics such as;
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- Care- Consideration should be paid to their beliefs and their dignity should be protected at all times.
- Compassion- Even if a patient is particularly difficult, they should display compassion as it is central to how patients view their care.
- Competence- Delivering high- quality care and measuring the impact.
- Communication- Exceptional communication is vitally important because we live in a multicultural society, it's essential that patients are communicated with in a language that they understand.
- Courage- to do what they think is right and be brave enough to challenge fear of difficulties.
- Commitment- uphold a high level of commitment to their role. (Bing.com, 2019)
(Bing.com, 2019)
Professional body-College of Paramedics
The college of paramedics is the recognised professional body for paramedics in the United Kingdom. The role of the college is to promote and develop the paramedic profession across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Some of the benefits of being a member of the college of paramedics include;
- Free subscription to thier very own research journal.
- Access to thier national network of CPD events.
- Free Legal Representation at HCPC regulatory hearings
- Regular email news keeping you informed of what's going on within the College and the profession.
- A quarterly membership magazine 'Paramedic Insight', bursting with interesting features, news and advice.
- A regional group network providing local support and resources.
- Savings on a assortment of products and services, including medical supplies, the Journal of Paramedic Practice and external conferences.
- Representation ‐ The College of Paramedics represents your views to government, employers and further external bodies as well as projects such as Independent Prescribing, Airway Management and Scope of Practice. (College of Paramedics, 2019)
Regulatory body-NCPC
The standards of proficiency for paramedics are as follows;
- Preform safely and efficiently within scope of practise.
- Practise within a legal and ethical boundary.
- Uphold fitness.
- Practise as an autonomous professional, exercising their own professional judgement.
- Understand of the impact of culture equality and diversity.
- Practise in a non discrimatory manner.
- Recognise the importance of and be able to maintain confidentiality.
- Communicate effectively.
- Work appropriately with others.
- Preserve records appropriately.
- Be able to reflect on and review practise.
- Guarantee the quality of their practice
- Understand the key concepts of the knowledge and skills to inform practise.
- Understand the necessity to establish and maintain a safe practise environment. (proficiency, 2019)
Funding cuts and the impact on paramedics
The ambulance service not only deals with the effects of wider NHS underfunding, but has suffered a number of historic funding cuts itself. North West Ambulance Service was forced to cut £13.8 million in 2014. East Midlands Ambulance Service implemented cuts of £6.2 million. in April 2011, LAS premeditated to cut 890 staff over five years trying to save £53million. This year, the West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) faces cuts of £11.7 million, following those of £8.8 million the previous year.
Whilst finances have become strained, demand has been rising for years at more than 5%. 821,937 emergency calls were recieved by ambulance trusts in january 2016 - a 7.7 % increase from January 2015. (England, 2019)
The funding cuts on paramedics are having a vast effect on the profession, paramedics are suffering physically and mentally and are put under a substantial amount of pressure on a daily basis, being driven to exhaustion. The work load more than exceeds the number of staff available. Paramedics are working 12-hour shifts, sometimes without a break because they are so engaged. Many paramedics are leaving the profession for a profession less stressful. Increasing numbers of paramedics are going off sick with stress-related illnesses as the demand for 999 services upsurges. As a result of stress-related illnesses in 2014 Paramedics in England took a total of 41,243 days off – up 28% since 2012
East Midlands had the prime increase in stress, where the amount of days taken off has increased by 142%. 146 paramedics took 6,536 days off for stress in the East Midlands Ambulance Service, up from 2,696 in 2012. “Ambulance staff do a challenging job that is physically and mentally demanding. It is the nature of working in an emergency service, but it is also clear the pressure caused by funding cuts is having an impact on workers and this needs to be addressed”. (Kirk, 2019) (Bing.com, 2019)
As well as funding cuts affecting paramedics its also the major increase in non-emergency and hoax calls. In one incident from April 2017 highlighted by the East Midlands Ambulance Service, a hoax call led to an air ambulance and two ambulances being sent at a cost of £2,465, with one of the ambulances being diverted from a real call where someone was experiencing chest pains. (Inews.co.uk, 2019)
Not only are paramedics taking time off work for stress-related illnesses but a lot are leaving the profession which in turn creates a vicious cycle, the more people that leave, the more pressure there is on remaining paramedics. (Jigsaw Medical, 2019)
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