Role Description
The role of the paramedic is one in constant development in response to evolving social and healthcare demands. NHS Careers (online (n.d.)) identifies the paramedic as often the first healthcare professionals on the scene of an accident or emergency, using assessment and decision making skills to treat patients. This brief description perhaps fails to accommodate the variable nature of the paramedic role, nor the increasing recognition of their performance in the wider context of out of and pre-hospital clinical and social care. This expanded concept of the paramedic has been strongly considered over recent years, arguably commencing with the Department of Health’s (2005) publication Taking Healthcare to the Patient, the tenets of which more recently reinforced in the NHS England (2013) report, Transforming Urgent and Emergency Care Services in England. The curriculum guidance of the College of Paramedics (2014) attests to the firm notion that the paramedic is much more complex than simply being the first healthcare professional to the scene of an emergency. It is a position of dynamism and autonomy
I commenced my employment with the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) in 2009 as a student paramedic. I have worked on a full time rotating shift pattern in the operational capacity of a front line emergency medical technician (EMT) for five years. In attendance of unplanned medical and trauma emergency calls, my professional contact includes the general public, patients, relatives, myriad health professionals and emergency service personnel. As part of a two person crew I am often responsible for the care of patients and for clinical decision making in addition to supporting senior clinicians in the delivery of patient care. This responsibility has encouraged a level of personal autonomy and the capacity for rapid dissemination of information to elicit a timely and appropriate response. This is in addition to an occupational background that has often relied strongly on team dynamics and careful planning to reach mutually agreeable long term outcomes. My embrace of both working dynamics and a commitment to continuous personal development lend themselves well to fulfilling the expectations of the burgeoning paramedic role. Autonomous and analytical clinicians will be required for the safe and progressive continued expansion into non-emergency pre-hospital and primary care, while maintaining the ever required deliverance of emergency interventions.
I commenced my employment with the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) in 2009 as a student paramedic. I have worked on a full time rotating shift pattern in the operational capacity of a front line emergency medical technician (EMT) for five years. In attendance of unplanned medical and trauma emergency calls, my professional contact includes the general public, patients, relatives, myriad health professionals and emergency service personnel. As part of a two person crew I am often responsible for the care of patients and for clinical decision making in addition to supporting senior clinicians in the delivery of patient care. This responsibility has encouraged a level of personal autonomy and the capacity for rapid dissemination of information to elicit a timely and appropriate response. This is in addition to an occupational background that has often relied strongly on team dynamics and careful planning to reach mutually agreeable long term outcomes. My embrace of both working dynamics and a commitment to continuous personal development lend themselves well to fulfilling the expectations of the burgeoning paramedic role. Autonomous and analytical clinicians will be required for the safe and progressive continued expansion into non-emergency pre-hospital and primary care, while maintaining the ever required deliverance of emergency interventions.