Transition to practice: from student to NQP

‘No one likes change except babies in diapers.’ This sentiment could not be more true of the journey and emotions of finally making the leap from student to autonomous practitioner, operating in the unpredictable, and unrelenting world of prehospital care. My clinical mentor once likened it to a mother bird ripping her hatchling from the nest and throwing it vigorously into the air while shouting ‘Fly! You're free!’—as it falls 20 feet to the ground, blind, and still in the foetal position.

As a student paramedic at the University of Surrey for the last 3 years, I was comfortable—at least to the point that I was never afraid to get ‘stuck-in’, knowing full well that if something went wrong, I would have a ‘grown-up’ there to make it all better. Six months on, and in the midst of a global pandemic, I now find myself in the reverse role—I am ‘the help’, I am the paramedic.