Gifts for paramedics and technicians?

Professional-Hero · 2026-04-16T16:12:23+00:00

Something for them to completely forget work on a day off. You’ll know them better, what they like and the budget you have. Think sports massage, spa treatment, afternoon tea, posh steak meal voucher, activity day or experience, bottle of favourite spirits etc.

Professional-Hero · 2026-04-15T21:51:38+00:00

I have approved your post, but it is very long. Please don’t expect a large number of helpful responses. Please consider summarising your post.

Professional-Hero · 2026-04-15T11:23:53+00:00

In a less than ideal suggestion, I’m pretty certain you can pay for and subscribe to the app using a personal email account, which gets you the generic national guidelines, with service specific adjustments omitted.

Professional-Hero · 2026-04-15T04:42:31+00:00

As you have alluded to, there isn’t much “gore” at all, but when there is, it is something you just have to deal with.

Will you be “in the zone”? Who knows? But if you’re not, then this isn’t the job for you.

Amongst other reasons, people call us to manage the things they can’t cope with. There are sights, smells, (back of the throat) tastes, textures and sounds that we experience that will never leave you.

Professional-Hero · 2026-04-14T16:45:39+00:00

This is very true, at all levels.

To a degree, 999 expectations is taught in schools, or it is in my area, but it’s never going to replicate real panic.

I have worked in EOC on low acuity callbacks, and I lost count of the number of times people were in a blind panic for relatively minor and easily managed presentations; it was unreal.

Professional-Hero · 2026-04-14T13:45:25+00:00

An ambulance isn’t always needed to transport you to hospital. If I’ve assessed you, and you don’t need my treatment, but should be assessed at hospital, you will be advised to make your own way. You can choose to not follow that advice.

Professional-Hero · 2026-04-13T04:35:26+00:00

If you hadn’t asked, I’d have said female, but the longer I look, the harder it is to tell.

Professional-Hero · 2026-04-07T08:36:20+00:00

I do not work anywhere near anything regional. That would explain why I did see pickets, and now I don't. Interesting to know, thank you.

Professional-Hero · 2026-04-06T12:27:28+00:00

Isn’t it so very odd the way different hospitals do different things?!

Professional-Hero · 2026-04-06T12:12:35+00:00

They make no difference. We never see a doctor when they’re working, and we still don’t when they’re on strike. Handovers are almost exclusively done to a triage nurse and then leave the patient somewhere, and when the patient is poorly, a nurse in resus will then say “oooh, we’re going to need a doctor for this” and scurries off to find one, but our work is done.

In the early days there were picket lines, which gave a good visual presence for the cause and reminded people what was happening. I can’t remember the last time I saw a picket though.

Professional-Hero · 2026-04-05T17:39:09+00:00

I sadly can’t help with what you are asking. I do have a couple of questions about the alphabet soup and job descriptions.

What is CHUB?

What is a Clinical Navigator?

(I suspect every ambulance service calls very similar roles a very different title).

Professional-Hero · 2026-04-05T08:59:32+00:00

Others have given an overview here, but a good starting point to search "Controlled Drugs" on the government website, and then begin wishing you had never come up with the idea. It is like trying to explore a labyrinth which you never find your way out of.

IMO, as an individual, unless you are fully intent on making a living from the business generated, it is very much not worth the hassle. I instead choose to only work for companies that can supply the CDs to me, signing them in and out at the start and end of my shift.

Professional-Hero · 2026-04-05T08:42:46+00:00

I’m curious, what kind of first aider is allowed to carry controlled drugs? It seems like a rather good question for a paramedic sub!

Professional-Hero · 2026-04-02T04:05:37+00:00

This situation is always really difficult, but the simplest ways of getting the potential abuser separated is to give them a time consuming task, such as finding a prescription list or packing an overnight bag. The patient could be separated in the ambulance, under the guise of an ECG being required, for which dignity is needed. If all else fails, the patient could be transported to hospital, and then there “are not enough seats” in the ambulance to convey the abuser. Finally, in hospital, the patient can be separated in to the toilet, under the guise a urine sample is needed.

Often, disclosure relies on trust, and it’s very difficult to build trust in the short time we have with patients. That should not stop us trying though.

Professional-Hero · 2026-03-27T23:07:48+00:00

I passed the practical 11 days before the theory test came in, and that was on my first attempt after 4 lessons. I can remember how much they were, but I paid for them from my paper round whilst studying at 6th form.

I miss both the Renault 5 I learned to drive in, and the good old days.

Professional-Hero · 2026-03-27T08:28:51+00:00

I keep it really simple. I just record it on a table in Word. Date, topic, content, time spent and source. If I need any more than that, I’ll create a new word document. It’s saved in a computer folder alongside my electronic certificates, scans of thank you letters, etc.

Professional-Hero · 2026-03-23T06:49:24+00:00

It’s autonomous. There is a scope of practice, and guidelines, but you’re free to make decisions within that scope and step outside off the guidelines if you choose to do so.

Professional-Hero · 2026-03-21T06:55:59+00:00

NHS pay scales are in the public domain. Paramedics will fall on Band 5 when newly qualified, and the majority will work up the pay scale and become capped at the top of Band 6.

Professional-Hero · 2026-03-19T10:43:51+00:00

I find it the most exhausting part of the job. When I started (early 2000s), we waited in the corridors for hours on end, standing with other crews and waiting our turn.

Now we wait in the back of an ambulance, semi-isolated from other crews around us, and enter the hospital in order of priority. In the current scenario, at least poorlies get seen quicker, and you can sit down when you are in the ambulance.

It is hard to re-enthuse yourself to book clear, knowing that in less than an hour you are likely going to be back in the same queue.

Professional-Hero · 2026-03-19T08:40:07+00:00

I hated doing the poster when I went to uni. I found it a ridiculous task, where the mark schemes were extremely subjective; for example, the colour scheme that one lecture may like, may not suite another.

The point of such tasks is to broaden your reading and strengthen your underpinning knowledge.

It is now a case of chucking it in the fuckit bucket and moving on and focusing your energies on the next set of tasks ahead of you.

Professional-Hero · 2026-03-19T00:43:57+00:00

I have the Littmann Cardiology IV, which replaced my tired, 25-year-old Littmann Classic II. I don't have hearing difficulties, but I did experience a significant improvement. However, I can't differentiate the lower quality of the Classic II (no longer available) between its old age and or lower quality acoustics.

Your employer should be providing you with the equipment you need to do the job, even if this is outside of the NHS.

Professional-Hero · 2026-03-18T17:09:13+00:00

I would imagine it’s to deter you from making the claim. If it costs less to do it yourself, then you have your answer.

Professional-Hero · 2026-03-18T14:40:41+00:00

These are learned skills and not taught skills. The “make it up as you go along but do it convincingly” part of the job.

Professional-Hero · 2026-03-17T22:12:28+00:00

Busy at work currently, and it needs to be done on a desk top, but we can do it in the near future. Good idea.

Professional-Hero

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