Mentorship is a longstanding component of paramedic education, with deeper involvement in high-quality mentorship soon to be a required part of HCPC registration. Mentor systems vary, with some students only rarely working with their named mentor and others only ever working with the same crewmates. As a student paramedic within the latter system, I had a consistent mentor for much of my first year of training—though it was not an aspect of my education and welfare I thought too much about—until it was taken away.
I have had many mentors, both official and unofficial, during my career. A big part of the reason I applied to my degree was due to a practitioner who took me under their wing when I was just starting out in emergency care. Without their help and encouragement, I would never have dredged up the courage to apply to my course (Thanks Anne!).
On joining my Trust for placement, I was assigned a mentor like everyone else. There were ups and downs—but having a friendly face who knew me was a big help. However, at the start of my second year (through no one’s fault), my mentor was unavailable and due to how late this was noticed, so too was every other mentor in my area.
Over 6 weeks of placement, I cycled through 14 different paramedics and their crewmates, across 4 different stations. With no more than 7 days notice as to my next week’s rota, I realised some of the benefits of the mentor I took for granted and reflected on some of the positives that could be drawn from an otherwise very difficult experience.
The benefits to my educational development were obvious. My consistent mentor could see where I repeatedly made mistakes, identifying parts of my practice that needed work, even when I myself was not aware of them. Apparently, I can also be a little harsh on myself, and so positive encouragement went a long way as much as constructive criticism did. Having a regular mentor also meant they knew me well enough to realise when I had forgotten to take my ADHD medication on a busy shift and was becoming overwhelmed because of it. This was someone who knew when I had not had enough sleep between night shifts without me having to say anything; someone who knew when to make a joke to get me out of my own head after a tricky case.
However, the first time I fully realised the welfare benefits of this consistency was when I was assaulted for the first time. The paramedic I was with that day was great: protective, supportive and spent time reporting it formally with me—but there was no follow-up. I never worked with them again, and the next paramedic had no idea what had happened to me less that 24 hours prior. My welfare, marks and my development took a dive and I felt isolated and unsupported by the wider system.
However, under different mentors, I have learned new techniques and become more flexible towards colleagues’ ways of working. I can appreciate that rotating between mentors had its benefits—on balance, though, consistency is what works for me. This placement, I have a new mentor, a consistent station and crewmate I work with weekly. Along with improving my welfare and learning, working with people who enjoy what they do has reminded me why I signed up for this strange old job in the first place.