The reality shock

The successful completion of an approved programme of paramedic education is a commendable achievement but it represents the end of the beginning rather than being the end in itself. For the newly qualified paramedic, the true acquisition of the role is both broad and complex and involves myriad high-level and complex skills that cannot possibly be fully assimilated within the confines of a two- to three-year training programme.

A perusal of the Health Professions Council (now the Health and Care Professions Council) Standards of Proficiency for Paramedics (HPC, 2007) is enough to establish how complex and demanding the role is and yet there appears to be no National programme to help a newly qualified paramedic make the transition from student to registered professional. In many instances, newly qualified paramedics become the lead clinician on a two-person vehicle and are expected to perform at the level of an experienced practitioner following only the briefest of induction periods. For many newly qualified paramedics there is a ‘reality shock’ when they discover that they are in a work situation for which they have been preparing themselves for a number of years and for which they had believed that they would be fully prepared only to find that they are not.