BECOMING A PARAMEDIC

Becoming a paramedic is a   highly rewarding career. The work of a paramedic involves attending to patients in an emergency. They are the first medical personnel to arrive at the scene of an emergency. The job requires total commitment and focus. They should be able to handle a variety of medical conditions to be able so save patients under any emergency. They can be called upon to work at any time of the day including night time and in most cases under very difficult conditions. The character of a paramedic should be calm and he should be able to work under pressure. Some of the emergencies paramedics handle include heart attacks, road accidents, earthquakes, child birth, fire outbreaks, gas explosions, avalanches, bomb explosions and mine accidents.

Paramedics find employment in the emergency departments of hospitals. They usually form the team that manages the ambulance services. They also find employment with firms that provide emergency evacuation services like such as AAR. They also find work in the armed forces. It is a secure and long term career. Other sectors that employ paramedics include factories, mines, hotels, police, airports and transport companies. Paramedics are able to negotiate very good terms of service due to the specialized and vital nature of their services. They get good salaries to compensate them for the requirement to work at odd hours.

Becoming a paramedic requires training at university level for a diploma or degree course. The courses are offered at most of the universities. Another option is to first train as an ambulance technician. The ambulance technician can be trained on the job to become a paramedic. The courses and training are wide and will give the paramedic student a thorough knowledge of medical conditions and how to handle patients especially at first aid stage.

In the case of a road accident, for instance, the paramedic will arrive at the scene to find a very chaotic situation with the public trying to assist the injured. Before moving the injured to hospital as first as possible the paramedic will have to calm the situation and provide first aid to the injured. He should be able to quickly determine the immediate needs of the patients and provide first aid. This begins by moving the patient to a safer area away from the accident area. The immediate basic tasks for the paramedic include making sure the patient is breathing, stopping bleeding if any, making sure the patient is conscious, placing the patient in a comfortable position, making a brief report on the patient and her/his condition and calling ambulance to move the patient to hospital.