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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;
(Bing.com, 2019)
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;
The standards of proficiency for paramedics are as follows;
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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