Seeking out great mentorship as a student

It appeared to me that I plateaued through the beginning of my second year; stuck in my comfort zone of attending incidences and writing patient report forms without developing my knowledge of treatment plans and patient management. This led me to have my first real ‘wobble’ as I realised something—I was not content with being just a good paramedic… I wanted to be a great one.

It soon became clear that in order to achieve this, I needed to identify my weaknesses so that I could learn from them and develop my autonomous clinical decision-making abilities. However, it takes a lot to build yourself up, both mentally and physically, and to openly ask to be criticised—constructively of course—as in all honesty, who really enjoys being this vulnerable?

There has definitely been a mental barrier in taking this step, and although the list of reasons could be endless, I have narrowed it down to three key aspects. The first is a fear of criticism; what if I do or say the wrong thing? For example, when I asked a patient if their father is coming with us, to be told ‘that's my husband’. Safe to say, I have never done that again. The next is having the faith to believe I have the knowledge and abilities to succeed as a paramedic. Finally, a more complex obstacle is receiving and using regular mentorship to push me to step further outside of my comfort zone.