The arrival of the ‘COVID cohort’ of newly qualified paramedics due to graduate this year marks a new generation in paramedicine. The COVID-19 pandemic greatly impacted students and their experiences of university life: social gatherings, face-to-face lectures and ease of meeting like-minded individuals all came to a halt and practice placements for student paramedics from 2020 onwards were cancelled or delayed. Placements are of particular importance to student paramedics as they compose a third to half of their degree: they learn the true nature of the job, understand how a medical issue can present and weigh up whether they can see themselves working as a paramedic in the future.
Alongside my frontline role, I have been a visiting lecturer and have spoken to many students regarding the ways they are coping through this time. While I was fortunate enough to only have my final placement cancelled due to COVID, when I was already confident in my abilities and ready to take on my new role as a paramedic, the current and preceding cohorts had a large proportion of their practice placement time removed. For current first- and second-year students, many said they lacked motivation to progress with the course. While placement is now back up and running for them, they feel as if they are very behind and, despite having more than the normal amount of practice or theory sessions, do not feel prepared to assess patients without relying on their crewmates to guide them. Similarly, for soon-to-be graduates in their third year, some voiced concerns about qualifying with a limited experience and lack of exposure, having lost placement at a pivotal time. Students across all 3 years expressed a general impression of exhaustion; missing out on the social aspect of university life, having inadequate time to get to know other members of their course and limited access to resources from university departments has caused students to feel overworked, stressed and lacking needed support.
As a workforce, we already face issues of staff burnout, with paramedics often moving from frontline ambulances to other roles after about 5 years. It does raise the question whether this figure may decrease further with student paramedics already feeling the effects of burnout through their university experience. Particularly with ambulance calls increasing, many new graduates are choosing to go into other roles such as primary care.
So how do we start supporting new paramedics coming out of universities across the UK with the obstacles faced through the pandemic? I clearly remember the disappointment I felt when my graduation and final moments with my university cohort were cancelled and while my experience is vastly different to the current, I did not want this to start affecting my future as a paramedic. I would suggest to the new cohort of graduate paramedics to start putting themselves first. There is no rush to get into work and it is so important to realise why they took the step into prehospital care in order to rediscover their motivation. I chose to explore different paramedic roles. One of my friends who graduated with me took a month off before working to relax and renew. Get in touch with each other and your new places of work, find out the support mechanisms around you. Above all, your experiences are unique so use that to your advantage! Although you might have less experience on the road, use the resilience gained through the course and the barriers thrown at you to become one of the best paramedics you can be.