How to become a Paramedic

[Paul999]

Hi Guys,

Firstly let me introduce myself, my name is Paul and I am currently employed by a large NHS Ambulance Service as a Paramedic. I have worked in the Ambulance Service since 2002, entering the job as a Direct Entry Trainee Technician, progressing through my qualifying year, gaining the IHCD Ambulance Aid & Ambulance Driving award (commonly known as the Ambulance Technician Qualification.

In 2005 I undertook pre-paramedic assessment. I then completed my Paramedic training in early 2006, qualifying as an IHCD Paramedic enabling me to register with the regulatory body, the Health Professionals Council: HPC - Health Professions Council

The "Paramedic" title is protected by law. Anyone using the title must be registered with the HPC, or they may be subject to prosecution and a fine of up to £5,000.

For you employers/patients out there, If you aren't sure that the person saying they are a Paramedic is the genuine article, you can check here: HPC Check

The reason for me writing this thread is that recently a couple of CP World members have asked me how they can gain the Paramedic Qualification, to hopefully enable them to expand there employability. I thought that rather than responding to them individually, I would get this together so that others may benefit.

Currently there are a couple of ways you can become a Paramedic, the "Traditional" route and the higher education route.

The "Traditional" Route:

This is the route that almost every currently employed civilian Paramedic would have undertaken.

This route to registration as a Paramedic involves joining an ambulance service as an ambulance care assistant (some services may allow you to start at technician level as I did).

When you have gained promotion and experience as an ambulance technician, you may be able to apply through open competition for a place on a Paramedic training course (leading to the Institute of Health Care Development (IHCD) paramedic training award).

This traditional way of training is becoming more difficult to achieve and in the future (as part of a major work force review), it is anticipated that fewer ambulance technicians will be recruited and this role may be phased out. This is still fairly political within the ambulance service and nothing is set in stone. Feelings on this differ from Trust area to Trust area. Wait out!

The Higher Education Route:

This is the newest way to become a Paramedic, via a university based course. Now, there are a number of differing opinions on this depending on who you speak to. Some people think that it is about time that the Paramedic qualification was gained at degree level, over a greater period of time, whilst others feel that the old route is the best way as you gain huge amounts of experience as you progress towards Paramedic Qualification.

In the interest of writing an unbiased article, I'll not share my views on this here.

The following information was pulled from Coventry Universities Website, but there are other Universities offering similar courses:
Entry requirements

5 GCSEs at grade A-C or equivalent, including Maths and English
satisfactory completion of a fitness test, health clearance and criminal record disclosure
applicants must be 18 years or over on commencement of the course and must hold a Full UK driving licence (Category C1 is not a requirement for entry).
You will need at least: 200 A level/ AVCE points, which must include one GCE A level or equivalent in a science subject.

(I am unsure of the possibilty of you guys with other relevent past qualifications, getting accreditation for prior learning. If you are interested in this route I would advise you contact a University offering such a course and ask about thier APEL Policy)

Course content

The programme is designed to equip you with the necessary skills and knowledge to deliver unplanned care in the pre-hospital setting. The course extends beyond biological sciences to include the psychological and social aspects of unplanned care, which gives you a wide understanding of the issues involved in this field of work. Modules that will be studied include:

- Concepts of Health and Health Promotion
- Emergency Care Pathways
- Evidence Based Practice
- Foundation Skills for Paramedics
- Gynaecology, Maternity and Paediatrics
- Introduction to Evidence-Based Practice
- Mental Health Issues and Paramedic Care
- Normal Anatomy and Physiology
- Pathophysiology and Pharmacology
- Practice Modules (accounting for nearly 50 percent of the course)
- Professional Issues for the Paramedic
- The Paramedic in Practice
- Welfare, Health and Inequalities

Placements - Practice placements give you the opportunity to link theory with practice and account for nearly 50% of the course hours. You will always be supernumerary when on placement, which means that you can maximise the value of the placement experience. Being supernumerary affords you the opportunity to treat seriously ill or injured patients whilst under the supervision of a qualified practitioner.

Placements are based on a 37.5-hour working week and you will be expected to work nights and weekends in order to experience the full range of operational duties. Shift patterns may dictate that you work more than the allocated hours during one week, but fewer in a subsequent week.

Successful completion of this course makes you eligible to apply for registration with the Health Professions Council (HPC).

Here is a link to the HPC's list of approved courses: HPC - Health Professions Council - Register of approved courses - Paramedics


I am aware that my trust is currently undertaking work to put together an Open University Paramedic Degree course, it's still in its early stages but may be worth keeping in mind. The issue I forsee with this route is getting access to enough clinical placements for the set amount of hours. I think that most people have an appreciation for how expensive it is to pay to get access into hospitals for training!

Well guys, apologies for the length of the post but hopefully that will have helped a few people out.

I don't claim to be the expert on this subject by any means and I'm certainly not going to stake my house on the possibility that there may be other routes out there for specific individuals to have their skills recognised.

I have heard of Military medical guys getting their military qualifications recognised and being eligable to register with the HPC, however I'm not familiar with these routes so it would be unfair for me to feed inaccurate information to our members.

Regards,
Paul.

[Nomad]

Thank you Paul, a great and informative article for anyone wanting to go down the route of medic which is a sought after skill after all, great stuff.

[KEVTHEMED]

Hi Paul,
Great article with info from the horses mouth(not that your a horse mate!!). I had a load of military qualifications CMT, BATLS etc when i left and the local ambulance service looked at me with a blank expression when i tried to join.

[Hawk]

Hi,
All above is thrue..
However if you have a qualification for UK like HSE first aid at work, you have a paper, when you do a combat medic course or a Psd medic course the company will give you a diploma, stating the subjects taught. If you then also get a approved certified cpr/aed course you are way above normal first aid trained personnel.

Even our tactical pistol course give you ERC (European Resuscication Counsil) approved certifications in cpr/aed..
Training is excellent and knowledge, but dont forget to get paper this is your proof of training. A paper will not save life, your knowledge will however to get the job that paper is what its all about.

hawk

[TOADWART7]

Thanks Paul
That was right on the money, thanks for taking the time to post this thread

[Paul999]

No worries guys, glad it may be of some use.

Hawk, I agree with you. You need to make sure you have the right paperwork to back your experience.

Paul.

[Kiwi PSD]

Hey Paul,

Great info in your post. Couple more questions. Obviously the quals you are talking about are UK based,

1. Is that the standard across the Globe?
2. Have seen other jobs for the pit advertised as EMT (I) & EMT (P).
I know these are Emergency Medical Technicians (Intermediate & Paramedic)

My reasons for asking are because I live down oin the colonies (Aust) & I am off to to my EMT course in April & would like to know if these courses have the same standards.

Having a quick look at the course criteria for the one you have posted & the one I am attending, fairly similar, the course I am attending has Adv IV therapy, Wound closure, Intraosseus cannulation & other tricky words I don' understand yet.

Just want to make sure my money is well spent is all.

Any assitance / comment appreciated


KSI

[Roadhog]

With regards to the EMT-I and EMT-P these are US qualifications and are taught to the US DOT standards, and are administered by the NREMT in the US. The courses tend to be administered by commercial companies, not just Dept of Health of Universities. Trouble with getting UK Paramedic qualifications as opposed to US is that if you want to get a job with a US company wanting say a EMT-P- aside from small differences in syllabus etc- you face getting your qualification recognised in the US, which can be a real uphill struggle. Also the situation works as badly from US to UK.

I'm qualified under the NREMT EMT-P standards- not licensed to practice in the US at present, as I'm not living there- and was told by the HPC that I would need to retrain from scratch to work in the NHS as a paramedic- after several years of study and use in the field I decided not to bother.

[KEVTHEMED]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roadhog With regards to the EMT-I and EMT-P these are US qualifications and are taught to the US DOT standards, and are administered by the NREMT in the US. The courses tend to be administered by commercial companies, not just Dept of Health of Universities. Trouble with getting UK Paramedic qualifications as opposed to US is that if you want to get a job with a US company wanting say a EMT-P- aside from small differences in syllabus etc- you face getting your qualification recognised in the US, which can be a real uphill struggle. Also the situation works as badly from US to UK. I'm qualified under the NREMT EMT-P standards- not licensed to practice in the US at present, as I'm not living there- and was told by the HPC that I would need to retrain from scratch to work in the NHS as a paramedic- after several years of study and use in the field I decided not to bother.

Sounds like the same story i had with my military quals, If i wanted to be a oil rig medic no problems they recognise CMT as a qualification.
Having said all that it is a few years ago since i tried and it may have changed so i stand to be corrected.

[Kiwi PSD]

Hey guys,

Appreciate the replies, I sure the patient you work on dosn't give a hoot whether you are UK / US qualified aye. Qualified is qualified in my books.

I chose the EMT quals as most big Sandpit companies are US, hopefully the Medic quals do not exclude me from UK companies, will wait & see

Also looking at Oil rigs as well, plenty of them down this way (Aust) also seems to be a little bit of work in PNG.

Keep us up to date on Quals if you can. Appreciate that


KSI