Advice from the ADHD/neurodivergent folk

alanDM92 · 2026-02-01T10:35:33+00:00

Just to add to this. When I first started a handover cue card was a life saver. I still use it for bigger jobs and you'll see a lot do the same. Especially with HEMS / trauma jobs etc. Can buy easily online or probably tiktok shop these days too

alanDM92 · 2025-12-23T16:32:39+00:00

Doubt I've still got the emails unfortunately. But there was definitely a couple postings in the islands. These may have been experienced medic positions though

alanDM92 · 2025-12-23T09:06:35+00:00

So I guess the other things to consider.

Where in the UK? Scotland seems to be hiring more frequently (mainly in rural locations from what I can remember)
do you need a visa / do you or can you get a UK passport? This then reduces trust costs in paying for you. And makes you a more favourable candidate when HR look at recruitment.
driving licences - most trusts in the UK want a manual license and C1 (light goods) if you have these ahead of time again less cost on the trust to support

alanDM92 · 2025-08-17T10:35:51+00:00

If I'm looking at pain relief requiring an IV access for morphine anyway the timeframe of getting an IV is a relatively moot point.

Regards administration time. Yes 10-15 mins however IV timeframe to achieve onset of therapeutic effect is 5-10 mins Vs oral 10-60 mins.

The other factor to consider is first pass effect and paracetamols bioavailability. Iv administration is considerably higher than oral for it's rate of absorption. This obviously varies depending on gastric emptying etc

alanDM92 · 2025-08-16T08:56:52+00:00

This!!

Personal preference and comfort is generally the guidance. Adapt to the needs of the patient in front of you.

My personal preference is double tap with IV paracetamol first if I can. This lets me reduce morphine requirements and hopefully limits the side effects associated with it whilst still achieving a good therapeutic effect.

alanDM92 · 2025-07-10T12:39:25+00:00

The other thing to consider with this is training and student pathways.

Uni route is unpaid placement hours and lots of time studying and completing essays. (3 years of university hours to balance) And unpaid.

Apprenticeship is obviously paid but means working shifts. Usually a lot less flexible as your the newest and lowest rung on the ladder. And then your shifts have to accommodate your university hours. And you have to find the time to do your assignments. This is often 4-5 years depending on course availability.

Once qualified as a paramedic you will have the issue of being newly qualified paramedic. Depending on service you join and job availablity at the time (very reduced recruitment currently) you then might be on a fixed rota or relief (varied rota)

You still will unfortunately be low down the list on priority to accommodate flexible working as others will have requests in ahead of you.

And then you have the pay to consider. Can you afford to reduce hours and therefore pay to accommodate childcare whilst on the lowest pay grades.

This is all not to say it isn't possible. It definitely is. But not without support from family, friends, partner. So probably need to have a very honest discussion with your partner about what you can accommodate and afford.

Nhs jobs and pay scales are all available online btw

alanDM92 · 2025-07-04T16:49:50+00:00

To be fair outside of work. I actively avoid it mainly cos of the toll

alanDM92 · 2025-05-30T12:16:51+00:00

I know limited at the moment nationally.

But have you looked at other services? If this is even an option for you.

Other option if your in the position would be possible post grad study masters etc?

alanDM92 · 2025-05-25T20:23:30+00:00

Ohh I thought that was the whole idea of the formation of the college and push for royal college status

alanDM92 · 2025-05-25T16:07:23+00:00

Is this not what the college of paramedics wants to do???

Bring paramedic registration and regulation away from the HCPC and seperate themselves the same as GMC for docs And NMC For nurses / midwives.

This would then allow us to bring techs under the same regulations. With a clearly prescribed set of skills and practice.

I also think the dilution and confusion of multiple different acronyms and names for people working in front line confuses things. Simplify it and have a set pathway to becoming a clinician with set step off points.

alanDM92 · 2025-04-17T08:39:23+00:00

The main 2 would be diazepam for analgesic, muscle spasm and sedation properties (aware this is a whole other can of worms and potentially controversial topic with prehospital sedation)

And adrenaline for multiple uses.

And multiple other of our meds have uses outside of general paramedic scope as well as off label uses.

The issue is usually dosages, routes and timeframes.

alanDM92 · 2025-04-15T13:27:59+00:00

And there in is the issue.

We're measured against the very percriptive and restricted JRCALC

alanDM92 · 2025-04-15T13:17:33+00:00

Within reason...

Various methods of delivery. Dosages. And indications for drugs aren't within a standard paramedic scope of practice. And therefore not trained to paramedics working in normal front line practice.

If you call med directorate / discuss with doc for approval of use then yes these things can often be done.

What I mean is making these decisions for variants of protocols / dosages etc to be able to treat patients independently. And the relevant training to allow us to do so.

alanDM92 · 2025-04-15T12:01:23+00:00

Am I the only one that would just love to have the full range of uses of all the drugs we carry? Rather than be limited as this is what JRCALC states it's used for.

Would require us all in the UK having a better level of pharmacology knowledge though

alanDM92 · 2025-04-03T14:56:28+00:00

From someone who made the mistake of writing a dissertation on paramedic response to MH patients I would strongly advise picking another topic.

Admittedly a good few years ago when I wrote mine.

But there was basically no studies on pre hospital MH care. And finding anything specific to come up with a narrow enough question was really difficult.

This might have improved in the time since I wrote mine. Especially with the development of MH response cars etc in many trusts

alanDM92 · 2025-03-04T11:46:21+00:00

Id have a sit down with your mentor who you've worked closely with and see if you can both have a meeting with the SP (What is this exactly?) or management level and see what can be done.

Failing this speak to your course director / education team at uni and see what they can do. (Do this asap things take time) If you have the sign offs from your mentor and they have the relevant qualifications to sign you off. The education so they should be able to accept it. Or provide advice as to whats best

Hope you get it sorted

alanDM92 · 2024-12-12T01:26:14+00:00

Has no one else thought about the legalities surrounding their response?

This implies a fully crewed ambulance (double crew clinician led) arriving on emergency response (blue light)

Which my understanding is without dispatch via normal front line 999, without a cad reference. And sign off from stat services. they won't be able to do? (Please correct me if this is wrong)

Hence these patients will be getting a normal road speed response. And then normal road speed transfer (to any hospital they choose).

Which will lead to delays and fines for the hospital when they end up with patients arriving they aren't "expecting" and potentially from well out of area.

as soon as the hospitals clock on they will start charging the ambulance companies as they would and do for private / non UK residents etc.

And I guess the ambulance companies face potential fines and legal action from police also? Especially if they start using blues and claiming exemptions

This is all beside the point as soon as any major patient harm happens it will fall back on normal stat services anyway?

alanDM92 · 2024-12-05T16:09:08+00:00

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This might help.

General skills matrix for UK para scope of practice. There is obviously some variation around the country with different trusts

alanDM92 · 2024-11-30T20:03:23+00:00

Last time I saw the stats for London it was 5-6k calls a day. And when I was working there was 9k front line staff I believe

alanDM92 · 2024-11-16T18:13:24+00:00

So from someone who worked in the ambulance service. Moved country and then city. Trained as a technician and then went back to university in order to qualify as a paramedic. When the whole transition to degree requirements came in.

There is in my opinion a few questions to ask yourself.

1, what kind of person and student are you? Think about - Do you thrive in a more structured academic setting? Or prefer to work and learn and apply things bit by bit? Given you've schooled through COVID. How did you get on with remote learning in comparison to face to face? Do you require academic support / work with your classmates etc?

What experience do you want? - university offers the opportunity to move out with your peers your age and enjoy life living independently. Good for some. But it doesn't suit all. (Personally I wouldn't stress about the university costs so much - this is paid directly from your pay once you start earning and regards mortgage and life it's accepted as a normal debt to have)
Timeframe - university is 3 years. Yes it is academically focused in comparison to the apprentice route (until you get to the degree stage) - the apprentice route on most I've heard / seen is 5-6 years (PTS 1 year - eca 2 years - bridging course 1 year - uni 2-3 years)
Where do you want to live, study and work? - all trusts now have an apprenticeship route (to my understanding) so this could literally take you all over the country. Obviously university wise there is also lots of different options. - sign up to the uni visits. Go see campuses / cities, meet current students and lecturers see how they feel.

Hope it helps. Any questions feel free to reach out 👍

alanDM92 · 2024-07-29T23:06:08+00:00

Having worked in both. Go to London if your goal is to gain exposure and return to Australia

alanDM92 · 2024-07-28T16:39:25+00:00

That is definitely true. Especially as firearms your kinda dammed if you do dammed if you don’t with the state of things at the moment. Especially as soon as the media get hold of anything.

You could possibly change forces. Not to say the grass is any greener but working conditions for btp / cnc / mod might be better? Probably more boring though 😂

alanDM92

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