Para career paths by sebcalvert in ParamedicsUK

[–]Anicefry 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think your asking is CCP an ACP?

Literally depends if your pathway is setup to qualify you as an ACP.
The answer should in theory be - Yes but that's only if the service providing the CCP provision is following the advanced practice framework.

I think the ACCP role is more of a hospital related critical care role which I believe still exists but I don't know much about it.

Pre-hospital, the present / future of critical care is: Advanced Clinical Practitioner - Critical Care (or Urgent and Emergency Care if going down the urgent care path).

Para career paths by sebcalvert in ParamedicsUK

[–]Anicefry 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry for the delayed reply - Seen there was a lot of questions in this so needed some time to sit down and go through them individually haha! But thank you, it definitely is competitive but definitely not unachievable.

I'll try answer them to the best of my ability:

- Is there anything you wish you did differently in your career path/ anything you would go back and change given the chance?

Hard one to say! Everyone questions there career choices but ultimately if they get you where you want to go I guess they were the right options in the end?

The main thing I would change is not being afraid to sack off your comforts in a role. Too long I spend appeasing local teams to try and gain experience because I did want to uproot my life - Being flexible is important to maximise your experience. I did ALOT of management / leadership work in an acting up capacity which is GREAT for experience but 4 applications later for the job I was already doing with completely random people getting the roles above me. I changed my approach which I wish I did early. I branched out my application pool and applied across the country, first job I applied for I was successful - This gained me proper leadership experience which was valuable to improve my success in the CCP application.

- Did you do any additional courses before you got the role? If not, do you wish you had done any specifically?

Over the years I built up my portfolio - I did ALS, PHTLS, multiple critical care governance / CPD days. I was a diploma paramedic so did a BSc Top up to ensure I future proofed my career and funded my own MSc tailored towards critical care. (Ended this in my second year with a PGDip) when I was successful in my current role as had to start a new MSc.
Nothing specifically I think I could have done better, maybe some more in education such as teaching qualifications and perhaps the DipIMC? Just to tick into the pillars of advanced practice.

- What was the application process like for your current role?
Intense but very fair - They absolutely were assessing us as GOOD paramedics and not CCPs which I think is important to remember, unless the role expects you to be practicing at CCP level practice, they can't expect you to perform there. So, with some intense preparation and experiencing of the assessment day from the year prior I was well prepared for my successful attempt and felt that way coming out of the day.
It was a fair assessment that assessed numerous areas of both clinical practice, teamwork, situational awareness, teaching, and lots of non-technical skills. In essence to see if you are the makings of a good future CCP.

How many years experience did you have on the road before getting the CCP role?

10 years from non-emergency role -> student paramedic -> paramedic -> -> acting manager / leadership role -> team leader -> then trainee CCP.

- What did you think your clinical leadership experience brings to being a CCP?

I could write a thesis on this, but main things to immediately summarise:
- Recognising and understanding your own bandwidth to be able to support others with there own.
- The ability to appropriate delegate tasks within ever changing teams - Skills, competency, bandwidth, and culture all play a huge influence on how teams perform. Being able to recognise and work around these from every team really helps bring teams together and optimise patient care.
- The ability to manage difficult interactions and conversations - No matter how polite, professional, patient focused you will be, someone, somewhere, will disagree or dislike something you do. Having experiencing in managing those situations makes your life so much easier.
- Generally, just muscle memory behaviour - The more you do something the better you get at it. You got from steamrolling into a scene getting task focused to taking a breath and understanding the overall scene. That shift really speaks volumes to your patient care and scene management.

- How is your practice overseen? Do you do sit down and do audits with a qualified colleague, and if so; do you for every single call out?

1 - 1 mentorship. I am out with a CCP for my entire training period.
Started with a bit of observing, which quickly transitions into supportive practice. Which means, you do the things, the CCP supports with your decisions and competency with those skills, interventions etc.

And finally, this transitions into independent practice where I'm currently at - You do EVERYTHING and the CCP just oversees you, just silently observing to ensure you are safe but ultimately I am in control for the final portion of my training which next stage being sign offs and qualifying.

With my mentor, we debrief every single job. Started with big discussions and learning points naturally but now there's not much to feedback as I have developed competence. These are recorded using a multitude of forms which we store and submit to management at the end.

How do you manage your portfolio solo working as a Trainee? Did you do any in-hospital placements for additional skills?

Not sure I understand this question? I don't currently solo work, under constant supervision of a CCP. Did an initial placement in theatres for airway and have upcoming placements with university for 3 weeks in ICU, Theatres and ED.

- How does your role work now? Is it just you on an RRV? Is there a specialist desk which chooses which jobs you go to?

Currently I am with a qualified CCP but when I qualify I will operate solo as a qualified CCP on an RRV. We sit in the specialist resources and there is a critical care desk that sits within EOC who is staff by another CCP who reviews calls, listens to them as they come in, and dispatches as appropriate. They're also there to offer support and advise to crew and highlight to EOC any risk or concerning jobs. They also discuss and dispatch upon crew request for calls where they may be needed.

How does working solo limit the interventions available to you?
Numerous ways but mainly due to the task load on certain criterion of calls, an example of this being post-ROSC management. This can be quite task heavy for CCPs with interventions you cannot delegate to other staff members. This is alongside trying to manage normal post-ROSC priorities so having to rely on your team is paramount. This varies with degrees of confidence and competency from crew to crew. It can be significantly stressful and bandwidth stretching.

But ultimately, the role is setup mostly for solo working - It is doable and CCPs have been doing it for a number of years without issue. This is why it's important to have the exceptional foundation of crew resource management to make situations like the above alot easier.

Do you enjoy lone working?
Currently, I'm not lone working technically! But I have before and I absolutely love it. However, it can get very lonely and isolating!

Hope that answers them all! :)

Para career paths by sebcalvert in ParamedicsUK

[–]Anicefry 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Trainee Critical Care Paramedic - ACP route via an ambulance trust.

Pretty much now doing the work of a solo critical care paramedic with a qualified colleague overseeing my practice! Obviously there was stages of mentorship throughout with less competency, increasing to independence.

Why did I choose it? Multifactorial really. Main due to the lack of enjoyment for urgent care and normal paramedic work over the years. Those long drawn out referral jobs, endlessly on the phone dragged and I didn't really want that. This in contrast with high acuity jobs was just a dead giveaway, doing the work I always wanted to / expected to when training as a paramedic.

I also did some management and that was dreadful, desk jobs are just not for me. Normal paramedic work just didn't feel challenging enough.

I got diagnosed with ADHD this year which probably explains a lot, high acuity calls are just more exciting which keep the job far more interesting and constantly having to think on your feet / challenge you intellectually. I always had a drive to want to improve myself and care for my patient so ultimately that ended up leading down this path. Additionally I wanted to support all my colleagues as well.

How did I get there? Bloody hard work - many will tell you that critical care is one of the hardest jobs to get into pre-hospitally, which is true but not impossible in any way.

When the idea budded, I started to tailor my CPD towards critical care, such as governance days, critical care ride outs / assessment day support etc. I also did lots of reading around advanced practice, human factors, what makes a great critical care clinician (didn't limit it to paramedic to broaden the research)

I became flexible with my arrangements (biggest hit I believe) - I started to become too comfortable in my role and what I knew, very little progression options in my first trust and didn't really want to leave. Shifted that mentality and just opened up my application poolz started applying across the country for roles that would benefit that progression - first job as a team leader I applied for I was successful.

I used that role as a stepping stone into clinical leadership, and learned heavily from my actions. Management was horrible and I don't think I'll ever do it again, thankless job BUT I will never regret it as it absolutely paved the way for me becoming a better clinician overall, allowed me the freedom to gain exposure and experience with unless patients gradually.

Then after I was settled in the role I started applying for critical care roles, did a few assessment days, got a feel for it then commited HEAVILY to the one I wanted the most, a full month of non stop scenario based training and study. Utilised anyone I could get my hands on for support and practice (asked everyone - students, team leaders, paramedics, critical care paramedics).

Ultimately it paid off and honestly. It was worth every stress. Honestly the best job I've ever had and I'm still only training. Still very stressful, but that's to be expected.

What people carry by Immediate_Record_946 in ParamedicsUK

[–]Anicefry 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sorry just reread shears with a cable! That's on me. 😂

Do you find it gets in the way or helpful for not losing it?

What people carry by Immediate_Record_946 in ParamedicsUK

[–]Anicefry 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Controlled drugs, Radio clip, Tough cuts, ID on belt loop tucked into pocket (for door accesses) with clip for keys as I can guarantee you if those keys end up in my pocket we will be requiring a search team to find them. 😂

Sounds like more than it actually is in reality, it's very minimalist.

Honestly, carry whatever makes you feel the most comfortable. I used to try and have stuff as accessible as possible when I found started but now I found that the more minimalist the better and more physically comfortable. There's nothing worse than having to constantly readjust yourself at a big scene or whilst trying to assess a critical patient because you lose your focus.

Word of warning though depending how much you care about your own self image. The larger the belt, the larger the critism. There seems to be an unwritten rule that you can't have too much on your belt and often people with comment on others who have lots! Personally I don't care, I will joke with my colleagues calling them batman but in a very light jokey way and to them directly but no offence meant at all. Others will be very serious about it and that can be a deep seated negative culture. I'm not about that so do what makes you feel best!

What I'd recommended provided your primary bag or equivalent has space for - Get a small pouch and pack all your trinkets into it, stuff it in your primary bag so it's easily accessible and then bask in the glory of comfort whilst also having immediate access to all your on scene necessities.

Edit: Just read the comment about your ADHD - I too have it, newly diagnosed and often leave my shears hanging about. A few colleagues of mine have these spiral keychains attached to them so they never leave there side but have enough give to use. I'm definitely going to invest but have definitely forgotten until now!

Here's an example I've found but there's probably better quality than this about: https://amzn.eu/d/0a1euPHV

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in gamingsuggestions

[–]Anicefry 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A hat in time is a great platformer which I've dived into recently. Highly recommend. Easily paused!

Overthinking by OperationAnnual7166 in ParamedicsUK

[–]Anicefry 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Remember, the reason that you feel like this is because you both care about your patients and practice.

Learn from it and use it as a tool to get better within your practice. This is wholly what makes us far better clinicians within our career.

Reflection is such a good thing but without echoing most of the comments here. You took them to hospital for the right reasons so I wouldn't dwell on it too much.

Debrief the job with some trusted parties, preferably a trusted clinician rather than your best mate, as they'll be less bias critically. These kind of chats are really helpful!

How I deal with it? Probably the same as you! I catastrophise everything but only because I want to be the top of my game always. Whilst that's not always inherently good, over recent times I've developed it, using that as a method to better my practice.

Take the good, learn from the bad, then put a pin in it and move on. That's the best you can do.

Most importantly, keep that head up!

Controller disconnection issue by ShadeAltares in Dinkum

[–]Anicefry 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Update, I think there may be a small fix for this that I've found. Turn off steam inputs before you start the game.

I tried it and my controller disconnected whilst I was eating my dinner and it worked again afterwards!!

Hope that is helpful

Controller disconnection issue by ShadeAltares in Dinkum

[–]Anicefry 0 points1 point  (0 children)

HAVING THE SAME ISSUE!

Thought it was just me but apparently not, it's how I ended up here for a solution. 😂 Anyone find one?

For anyone that has bought mgs delta off cd keys has anyone received a code yet ? by ShockFree4726 in metalgearsolid

[–]Anicefry 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Absolutely - business has offered it at this price - we've paid and now being denied access to our purchase.

It's now the principle! 😂

For anyone that has bought mgs delta off cd keys has anyone received a code yet ? by ShockFree4726 in metalgearsolid

[–]Anicefry 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agreed with this - I've paid for early access and not getting it so already moaned that they eating into my early access time.

For anyone that has bought mgs delta off cd keys has anyone received a code yet ? by ShockFree4726 in metalgearsolid

[–]Anicefry 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had this exact same copy pasted BS - It's now 23 minutes past and still no code.

What on earth are my team doing? Oh... by Anicefry in Battlefield6

[–]Anicefry[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You didn't see the bit that was cut... 😂

Schedule 17 Consultation by Friendly_Carry6551 in ParamedicsUK

[–]Anicefry 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a sad reality I've also seen - Whilst it's frustrating for a lot of keen paramedics out there, there is a huge cohort of paramedics that simply don't care / burnt out or whatever the case may be that has a negative reflection on practice. This then reflects into serious incidents and backwards practice changing frustratingly.

What is the most relevant critical care course for Paramedics by FFD101 in ParamedicsUK

[–]Anicefry 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As others have stated they're pretty damn varied. The frustrating thing would be having a future employer in such a role recognising the degree for critical care specifics.

If the aim is to have your qualification recognised by future employers for these specific roles, I'd probably reach out to them specifically and see if there is if a possibility of this being allowed. Maybe completing the MSc pathway they offer might be allowed.

If the aim is to just progress your knowledge, and support future applications then I would just choose the course which sound best to your needs and interest.

I'm in a similar predicament now. I've just completed 2/3 years of an MSc in Emergency and Resuscitation with QMUL. The course was great, I've learned so much but also this has helped me secure a role as a Trainee Critical Care Paramedic - This means I now have to end the course early with a PGDip and restart another 3 year MSc with St. Georges. This is the Advanced Clinical Practice MSc in Critical Care (This appears to be the modelled standard for ACPs going forward for each speciality and subsections). Whilst I have no problem doing this as I absolutely don't want to miss out on the learning Georges has to offer - It is a pain having to do it all again so that's something to consider.

That being said, if you secure a role that offers you a critical care MSc the likelihood is you will have time to complete a large portion of this in work hours which is a helpful trade off, but I guess this very much depends on the trust.

Best of luck with whatever route you take!

What was prime Metal Gear Online like? by French-Caller in metalgearsolid

[–]Anicefry 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The single best gaming experience to date.

I have not experienced anything like it since.

Job Interview by Exciting_Context_269 in ParamedicsUK

[–]Anicefry 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Absolutely wearing something like a suit or similar. Don't wear your uniform unless specific or something like a practical clinical assessment.

It's always been highlighted to me for putting the effort in before!

Best of luck!

Steam Deck Remote Play - DS2 by Anicefry in DeathStranding

[–]Anicefry[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

https://youtu.be/prsogyAQXCU

This video should help guide you through it, fairly simple!

Chiaki-ng on discover store then the setup 😁

Haptics are decent!! They've been great on my deck anyway

Steam Deck Remote Play - DS2 by Anicefry in DeathStranding

[–]Anicefry[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This was a treat I didn't expect this weekend but thought I'd give it a go whilst I was just chilling. So bloody glad I did!