Paul - BSc (Hons) Paramedic Science Graduate

Paul shares his experience becoming a newly qualified paramedic.

Image of Paul in paramedic uniform in front on ambulance

After a career in the Royal Marines, Paul wanted something more than an office job. Passionate about the idea of working in a fast pace, unpredictable, and rewarding job he applied to study BSc (Hons) Paramedic Science at Plymouth. One year on from graduating, Paul gives an insight into his career as a newly qualified paramedic with the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust.

Charting a new path of service

I spent 23 years in the Royal Marines beginning as a marine and leaving as a major, with many different jobs in between. I had reached a sort of natural jump off point of my career where rather than staying in the military I could retire and retrain in another job.

I am entirely unsuited to a desk job, and I had enough of that in the last part of my career. My wife is a nurse, and we had some good long chats about what I could do, and the NHS seemed like quite a natural fit in terms of it being a service that has a big public structure, there are various jobs within it, you can move about and there is continuous learning. I am a big fan of chaos and unpredictability and really love working in that sphere.

Paul in paramedic uniform in front of ambulance

So, paramedicine seemed quite a natural fit for me. I live in Plymouth and have done for more than 20 years, so I really did put all of my eggs in one basket when applying, I had to go down the route of doing an access course first, but I found myself starting my degree with Plymouth very soon after I finished work.

The journey since graduation

Not long after I graduated, I went out to Nepal for a month with the University of Plymouth and did a series of small projects and scoping work. We worked in a newly built hospital and worked shifts with the Nepal ambulance service, we also ran some training and first aid courses in the community, it was all great fun!
After this I went travelling with my wife for a month to Thailand.

Once I was back in the UK in February, I began my pre-joining training with the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWAST), and I was on the road by March. The first 14 shifts I worked alongside an experienced paramedic, and since then I have been working normal shifts doing exactly the same as any other paramedic on the road with a variety of crew mates.

Paul in Nepal, teaching first aid skills to school children

As a newly qualified paramedic you are also offered recall days, these are educational day where we can get involved in scenario and simulation training under clinical supervision, which is a great way to practice and further develop your skills in a safe environment. You also get the opportunity to discuss any difficult jobs you have been on. These days are such a great opportunity for newly qualified paramedics to have a chat and realise that you are not on your own and everyone feels the same it is really nice.

Whist the university and degree prepare you to do the role, it is still a big shift to physically being on an ambulance, making the decision, being able to sign off and administer drugs without that safety net, it is difficult for anybody and how quickly you adjust to that is a very individual thing.

Being comfortable in chaos is a really good phrase to see our job because things are rarely as you find them. You will deal with a variety of different patients from elderly to very young, so you must be as comfortable in a pensioner’s home in the afternoon as you are in a pub peak Saturday night with a rowdy crowd, being able to throw yourself into any environment and take charge of it.

Paul and other students in Nepal working for the ambulance service

Paul in Nepal with other paramedic graduates

Career highlights

Even when I have got a 6am start I am excited to get up and go to work. I love the unpredictability; it has its frustrations I have had shifts where I did nothing but sit with a patient in a carpark outside a hospital waiting to get them in, but then other shifts you can go from job to job to job and I think that is the joy. I enjoy being challenged on a regular basis, like finding ways to keep people at home and working with the other healthcare professionals. I work out at Totness more than anywhere else, but even when you go out to the other stations you very quickly feel like you belong which is really nice.

There is always a sense of achievement when you look after someone well and they feel better, and you walk out with a little spring in your step. One of the great privileges of the job is when you have been dispatched to a patient you are not rushed, there might be 100 calls waiting but you just have to deal with that one patient, that patients get 100% of your time for as long as it takes, and I think that is what makes the job really fantastic.

Excited for the future

At the moment I am concentrating on consolidating all of the work from my degree and the experience I am now gaining into being a good paramedic. I have lot of experience in leadership and management from my previous work which is good, but medically is where I need to focus and I will only gain more of that by going and seeing people, I would like to feel completely comfortable from a medical standpoint at every job that I go to and feel people are happy to be crewed up with me on shifts.

I am really looking forward to mentoring the next generation of students when they start coming out on placement. Looking back on my experience I was well mentored for three years and I would like to pay that back because I know how important it is to do right. I also think it is a really good step in consolidating and developing my own knowledge, I love the idea of being almost quizzed on why we are doing things and helping someone else on their paramedic journey going from student to colleague.

Students engaged in a paramedic simulation, talking in a group

The programme at Plymouth

The lecturers always go above and beyond the minimum, most of them are still practising paramedics, so their knowledge is so valuable, current, and relevant and a lot of their delivery of the course comes with examples from personal experience, This knowledge is so helpful when you go out to work, remembering them mentioning scenarios you are now facing and being able to build on that experience.

Do not expect to be taught everything you need to pass, the teaching is all about showing you the door to a topic and then it is for you to go in and explore it and get more from it, it can be quite hard work at times, and you are going to have to chip away at it, I found it hard, always trying to improve my knowledge.

Paramedic lecturer supporting students in clinical skills session

My advice to anyone thinking about studying paramedic science would be to make sure you really want to do it and prepare to work hard, there is so much help and support out there not just from the university, but elsewhere that it is perfectly achievable, I managed it at 47 so anyone should be able to.

Inspired by this story?

For more information about studying paramedics please visit our BSc (Hons) Paramedic Science page. For more information about our range of courses within the School of Health Professions, please visit the school page.

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