Critical Care Paramedic
Devon Air Ambulance

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Hello, my name’s Dave.

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I’m a critical care paramedic with Devon’s air ambulance,

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which means that we respond in a helicopter

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and the car to patients that need emergency care.

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So the best thing about being a paramedic and definitely critical care paramedic

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in the ambulance is you just don’t know what your day is going to entail.

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There’s absolute variety, you could be flying to one end of the county,

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you know, on a coastal path, delivering care to a person or

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treating someone in an urban setting.

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It’s just absolute variety and quite exciting and challenging

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keeps you on your toes. To be able to combine those two

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and feel like I’m making a difference.

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That’s what really makes this role.

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When I joined the ambulance service quite a long time ago,

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it wasn’t an academic route into the ambulance service – you joined and did some in-house training.

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You still needed GCSE

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English and maths at a Grade C.

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Fortunately, I had that and then I was,

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I progressed.

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It’s been a long pathway to become a critical care paramedic,

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and it started with my journey 20 years ago in the ambulance service,

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first as a care assistant, then a technician, then a paramedic.

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And then I was fortunate enough to apply and get this job.

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To be a good paramedic, I think you need to be able to communicate

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well and be able to interact with people.

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It’s really about being motivated to go out and make a difference

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better yourself and work together as a team.

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So I think any kind of life experience will help you in this role.

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Any interaction with the general public because you understand

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how different people are and how they act in different situations.

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For myself, having a kind of first aid,

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you know, element to my time as a lifeguard definitely helped.

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But I know people that have done a variety of different roles.

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Some come from a military background.

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Some have come from other health care settings like care homes or,

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you know, working in hospitals as care assistants.

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If you can

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get those qualifications that give you options,

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even if you don’t know what they’re going to lead to, then it

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just allows you to walk through doors that may not even open to you otherwise.

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Find out what works for you, find out what motivates you

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and then say, ‘Well, where where does that take me?’

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And generally, when you do that, the next opportunity arises.