The second academic year is well underway, and I've been out on both hospital and ambulance service placements. This year, I'm based at Wexham for my frontline ambulance placements and despite not setting foot on an ambulance for 3 months over the summer break, I feel like I've settled into the new station quickly. Ideally, students would be eased into practice, but due to the unpredictable nature of responding to 999/111 calls, we're sometimes thrown into the deep end.
During my second shift back, I was faced with a job I'll never forget: a young person made the decision to take their own life. Unfortunately, resuscitative efforts were unsuccessful and after clearing from the job, we were taken out of service to restock and debrief. As a crew, we discussed what happened and how the scene had been managed before we were joined by a Team Leader, who provided additional input and support. We were told it would be normal to continue thinking about the job and suffer problems with sleep and other aspects of life over the coming days—but that if those symptoms didn't improve within a week, additional support needed to be sought. We were also offered Trauma Risk Management training, otherwise known as TRiM training, if we felt we needed it.
Exposure to difficult and complex jobs as a student not only allows me to practise my physical skills, such as airway management, but also to develop my emotional resilience to situations where human factors play a significant role. One of the first things I was taught when I started the Paramedic Science course was to check the scene for danger because a clinician is no use to a patient if they themselves aren't safe. The same can be said for your mental health: if you aren't looking after yourself, you can't expect to complete assessments and make appropriate decisions.
I believe that developing a support network is crucial to working in the emergency services. Talking through difficult cases with colleagues at Wexham station and other student paramedics on my cohort has helped tremendously. Multiple studies have also proven that so-called ‘dark humour’ is a genuine coping mechanism that is beneficial in dealing with traumatic events. While it may seem heartless to those outside of the ambulance service, it's a cornerstone of our culture.
For students, placement is only half the battle. In addition to the challenges of shift work, we have two reflections to complete per week as well as assignments. Time management is essential for coursework—but it's also required when treating time-critical patients. I am being prepared to become an autonomous modern paramedic, and am becoming more resilient by the day.