The Student Paramedic course comprises three modules at the the technician level. These are:

Module D

Introduction to the body

Lifting and Handling Equipment

Respiratory

Circulatory

Cardiac Monitoring

Airway Management & Resuscitation

Examination & Assessment

Assisting the Technician

Infants and Children

Module E

Nervous System

Nervous Disorders

Skeletal

Musculoskeletal Trauma

Wounds & Bleeding

Infectious Diseases

Infants & Children

Module F

Digestive System

Diabetes & Glucagon

Law & Ambulance Staff

Major Incidents

Poisoning

Extremes of Body Temperature

Maternity

Haemodialysis

Acute Abdominal Problems

Infants & Children

Module D was the first to be tackled and in my opinion is the most interesting and important. It is the most important because it introduces the foundation on which the Student Paramedic will build their skills upon. The fundamentals of Ambulance aid are the A B Cs, that is Airway, Breathing and Circulation. Any prospective Student Paramedic will find that this mnemonic will be drilled home from the very first day of training school. It is the most interesting module simply because it introduces the anatomy and physiology of the human body, to people that have never studies A&P it is fascinating to learn the various important facts and figures.

Module E was in my opinion the most difficult and presented the greatest information overload. The nervous system is a complexed system and required a lot of attention to absorb the “need to know” aspects. It was easy to get carried away with the complexity of the system and delve into the various types of nervous responses, an area that is simply not required at this stage of training, as they tutors call it a “nice to know”. Combining the nervous system with the recognition of 21 cardiac rhythms and subsequent test, plus wounds and bleeding assessment in a 7 day period was a big ask. A couple of students failed various parts of this module compared to a clean sweep pass of module D pays testament to the degree of difficulty it posed.

Module F has just been completed by myself. Well I say completed, the tests and assessment have been completed but the training team are reserving the right to withhold our results until the final Friday. This is an attempt to curb complacency as we go about practical scenarios in various parts of the county. The rumours from previous courses was that F was the most challenging module, however, the general consensus among the group was the opposite. The maternity part was the scariest and appears to be the most daunting emergency discussed amongst the group.

You may have noticed the Infants & Children are covered in each module. Dealing with children will present the biggest problem to me as a probationary Technician simply because they are vastly different to adults in terms of A&P and their system dynamics. It is true to say that children are not simply small adults! Add this to the fact that people are naturally more sympathetic to children and you can see how it can easily become a trainees worst nightmare. I recently read a blog article from a BASICS Doctor and it was comforting yet equally unnerving to read…

As we get nearer, I see a group of people kneeling down. I see the victim, and my heart sinks. I rush back to the car to get my paediatric bag, as my head screams at me, “A child! It’s a child!”

It is reassuring to read that a Doctor finds dealing with children different to the everyday adult jobs, yet, if that is how an experienced Doctor felt I wonder how I’ll be on that dreaded first serious job?

I started this post by saying the past 8 weeks have been the fastest and most significant in terms of education and I stand by this. To think that after 40 days of training on my colleagues and Resusci Annie I will be out on the road and blue light driving to people’s emergencies is a prospect that I’m relishing with a degree of apprehension. I’m assuming that on average a person in the western world will call 999 once in their lifetime. This 1 call is THEIR emergency and as such will be the only time they get to experience the life protecting, preserving and promotional skills of a trained Ambulance person. For this reason I have apprehension. I know that I have the theoretical knowledge but people are not exam answer sheets to write on. People are not knowledgeable colleague or plastic practice props, they are real people having real emergencies.

If there is one tip that I can impart on prospective Student Paramedics it is this; find out what is need to know and focus your attention on it, learn it verbatim and then if confident, take a look at the nice to know.