Why You Shouldn’t Join The Ambulance Service
It’s a new year and a new decade and you’re thinking to yourself – It’s time for a new career.
This time last year I was thinking the exact same thing. My thought process was something along the lines of – I’m early 20s, university has failed me, current job has zero satisfaction, and I want a challenging job with good career prospects.
So what did I do? After much deliberation I decided that one of the emergency services would be the answer and researched each one individually. There are numerous pros and cons for each that I could go into but on this occasion I’ll refrain. Ultimately, the deciding factor that tipped the scales in favour of EMS (Emergency Medical Service) was continued education and opportunities for research.
I anticipate that a great deal of people will be looking for a career change in favour of EMS and with Student Paramedic opportunities cropping up all the time there has never been a better time.
To help you decide whether EMS is for you I’ve compiled a list of reasons as to why you SHOULDN’T join the Ambulance Service:
- You enjoy knowing what you’ll be doing on a certain day more than 4 weeks in the future – unless you have a shift, 4 weeks in advance is all you’ll get.
- You need more than 6 hours sleep before returning to work for your fifth 12 hour shift in a row – sleep pattern disturbance is inevitable.
- You buckle under pressure – nerves are normal but to act rationally at an emergency is imperative.
- You don’t have people skills and the ability to talk to people – to obtain a detailed and relative history when a relative is seriously injured or even deceased requires tactfulness and empathy.
- You are massively overweight and about as much use as a chocolate tea pot when it comes to lifting - despite a minimal lifting approach you WILL be manually handling patients (heavy ones).
- You have an insatiable appetite for money – the NHS won’t accommodate it.
- You don’t enjoy making decisions in the best interests of others – patients will trust your clinical skills, the decisions you make can be the difference between life and death.
- You never were interested in self taught education – EMS need to know a little about a lot and in some cases a lot about a little. It’s up-to you the clinician to maintain your knowledge and competencies via self directed learning. “I forgot your honour”. Will not suffice.
- You have delusions of speeding around the city and attending major incidents everyday just like they do on casualty - it’s never like it is on the telly.
- You don’t think you’ll like driving with blue lights and a siren – let’s face it, this is one of the main reasons people join the Emergency Services. When the job comes in and it’s a genuine emergency I defy you not to feel butterflies in your stomach.
So what do you think? Do you agree with my opinions? I’m sure there are plenty more reasons as to why you shouldn’t join the Ambulance service, what are you the most relevant to you? Feel free to leave a comment and voice your opinion.
I would probably add a few more…
If you can’t stand seeing people in poor social situations (poverty, homeless, elderly and alone, unable to cope, living in a slum) because you will the worst in your area, and its even worse than you could imagine!
If you don’t have a strong stomach don’t even think about it! The smells of vomit, urine, infected urine, poo, diarrhoea, vomited blood, poo’d blood, the smell of unhygienic poor hygiene, cellulitis – don’t even bother, believe me, it smells even worse than you can think it does!
If you want to make plans after your shift has finished – If you dare to do anything after your shift, you WILL get a job 5 mins before the last hour of the 12 that you have already worked and you WILL be 2 hours late off…..
Whilst I’m perhaps a bit long in the tooth for a major career change, there’s only two things in your list (or otherwise) that would put me off.
First is the drop in money. As there’s no direct entry as an EMT these days, you either do a foundation degree (2 years minimal money) or do at least a year as an ECA (not much better) before starting training.
An experienced paramedic, though, does earn slightly more than me as a basic wage, and I don’t get paid for overtime.
The other is the crazy shift system. As a Health & Safety Officer, and having worked in industry as well as the public sector, I’m no great fan of 12 hour shifts. And YES, I have worked them – I’ve not always been a H&S O. Working regular 12 hour shifts leads to disrupted sleep in many people. Tired people make poorer decisions and have more accidents. Shift workers, particularly those on 12 hour stints, tend to die younger!
My experience of shift work was that the longer I did it, the worse my sleep patterns became. There is a significant number of people who find the same thing, and this continual tiredness takes its toll. After 10 years away from shifts my sleep patterns are still not where they should be, but they’re much better than they were 9 years ago. I do, though, accept that some people thrive on these hours.
Whilst I can understand people preferring more days off (so that they can do more overtime?), it does affect your long-term health.