‘The good, the bad and the ugly paramedic’—a review

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Paramedic is written by Tammie Bullard, a practising paramedic, lecturer and author from Australia. Published in 2020, this book aims to help us look at ourselves in a friendly, non-critical way and decide where we sit on the scale—are we a good, bad or an ugly paramedic?

Being a paramedic is a job that generally holds us in high regard by the public. We are the ones that come when a person is having the worst day of their lives and we are seen as the calm in the storm. Over time, after bad calls, the pressure of shift work and the complexities of being a paramedic, we can all become a bit lackadaisical in how we behave or how we speak.

By reflecting on how we act and behave, we can see where we might need to make change. From the outset, the author takes a team-based approach. All of the scenarios look at how ‘we’ handle the situation or behave, taking a collaborative ‘we're in this together’ approach. As such, the book never looks to chastise the reader.