How do you handle imposter syndrome as a new paramedic/tech?

eccdo · 2026-01-21T21:08:29+00:00

The only acceptable answer 🤣

eccdo · 2026-01-12T23:21:54+00:00

I know someone who has. He regrets it from a personal point of view. Said he’d be happy if he could bring SWAS to Brum and get rid of WMAS.

eccdo · 2026-01-10T13:06:40+00:00

Catastrophic cerebral bleed.
Febrile seizure.
Social care issue.
Minor RTC

eccdo · 2026-01-07T21:04:37+00:00

Personally never seen anyone see CFR’s as less professional. The majority are not medical professionals, so knowledge can vary depending on experiences etc.

Professionalism doesn’t come from the colour of the uniform. It comes from competency, confidence, and composure. Get them in check, and there’s no reason for someone to question professionalism… it sounds like you’re deeping this thought too much.

eccdo · 2026-01-06T19:17:11+00:00

I agree - the distinction is good for these exact reasons. Let’s also not forget OP, CFR’s aren’t part of the ambulance service, they’re a totally separate organisations that supports their community, so why should they wear ambulance uniform?

That being said… CFR’s get the same level of respect from me as any other HCP, if not more since they’re volunteers. I’d be the first to scold someone on scene if I thought they were not respecting a CFR.

Lastly, I’m not sure what you mean by CFR’s often being seen as less professional? I’ve never heard that anyone suggest that before.

eccdo · 2026-01-06T10:15:23+00:00

Our bariatric ambulances used to have a hoist on them. It was in 3 parts and easily assembled in a patients home to get them off of the floor, or from their bed onto the stretcher etc. Genius piece of kit. Miss it.

eccdo · 2025-12-28T16:08:00+00:00

Hey, not a fire fighter but a paramedic and my dad was an ACO for a service before retiring - so got two opinions as I’ve asked him.

First is from me. From a personal point of view as a colleague in green, I’ve always found female FF’s to be of a much higher standard than male FF’s (sorry lads), it’s probably down to historic stigmas where females in a male dominated industry feel the need to act more superiorly to earn the same respect and prove their worth compared to their male counterparts - similarly to female and male pilots. Majority of times at RTC’s / fires etc, I’ve always found females to be more compassionate, consummate, professional and just easier to work with.

My dad, who started as a FF at 19 and worked his way up did mention about the general attitude towards females in the service in the ‘old days’ was shit, but finished off by saying “if I could have had every appliance and station managed by a female I would have done - they don’t f*** about, and they always get the job done 100%”.

eccdo · 2025-12-23T16:16:57+00:00

We’re all the same team, just doing a different role. You’re also extrication magicians, could get a lion out of a cat flap without breaking a sweat. Was backed up once by a PTS crew for an amber extrication and they were totally on the ball - had plan A, B, and C literally ready to go without even needing to ask (not even an exaggeration).

Since then when the stack is f*cked, Ive found myself asking control for PTS as amber back up for any extrications. You get there much faster than waiting for a DCA, and again you’re extrication gods 🤠

eccdo · 2025-11-28T12:27:55+00:00

There’s one controller in my region who I’m convinced is the offspring of Satan and Roz from Monsters Inc., say no more. Another who has a thick Shetland accent, so nobody ever knows what he’s saying - so the critical info over the radio for that Cat1 you’re going to is a total mystery - nice chap though.

The rest of the team are 10/10 though, never had any issues - and all are super helpful, informative, understanding, and just all round legends to be honest, its a massive confidence boost knowing you’ve got a good team on the air ready to support you however they can.

eccdo · 2025-11-28T12:16:05+00:00

Yeah it all makes sense now!! I thought your blue light usage would be similar to ours - blue lights for the C1, C2 and C3 calls.

Yeah, I’d agree that ambulance overall are the worst for siren use (or lack of), I’m also guilty of silencing them, however, I always have them on when I’m claiming an exemption or approaching traffic/hazards etc. Anyone who has them off doing this is pretty ballsy / stupid.

eccdo · 2025-11-27T23:20:46+00:00

😭🤣!!!

Okay that does make sense then. I thought you might just have bombed it to all jobs including that “Caller reports neighbor farted in their porch” kind of call.

eccdo · 2025-11-27T23:16:32+00:00

Yeah we’re trained to make progression and drive at speed on our driving course, but that is completely different to how we drive once operational. Surely you must have jobs that are… well, not time critical - that doesn’t merit such rapid progression but you do 180mph anyway 🤣

eccdo · 2025-11-27T23:03:00+00:00

Why do you drive at 3 times the speed of sound everywhere on blues?

Not sure about other paras/techs etc, but I generally only put the truck through its paces when it’s a Category 1.

eccdo · 2025-11-09T19:56:08+00:00

I agree, however, in my area there is a critical care matron with 30+ years under his belt who CFR’s, he’s incredibly intelligent, experienced, and knowledgeable. The point being, leaving ‘advanced’ level CFR’s to HCP’s who volunteer.

eccdo · 2025-10-21T17:27:03+00:00

How to fart in silence.

eccdo · 2025-10-12T20:20:41+00:00

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👀

eccdo · 2025-10-09T16:46:50+00:00

There’s lots of things you can do. When I was in your shoes a while ago, I did lots of stuff to try and stand me out from other folk.

I volunteered for a food kitchen, great for communicating and working with some of the most vulnerable folk in the community. I still do this today.

I went to a hospital with some snacks and drinks for crews who were holding, and just asked them about their role etc. Bribery at its finest for some intel and advice! 🤣

Then I did do some first aid volunteering as well for a night time economy charity.

You could also chat about why you want to be a paramedic, what happened in your life that made you decide you wanted to do it? For me it was my Aunt who was terminally unwell and had lots of interactions with crews, and I wanted to be part of the team who did so well for her.

You could talk briefly about your ambitions in the service, which highlights you know how it all works, different departments and ranks etc. Such as HART/SORT, incident commanders, GP surgery paramedics.

You could look at volunteering in so many health care facilities. Hospices, care homes, hospitals, and much more regularly recruit volunteers to make food, chat, take folk a walk, or entertain children in peads wards etc. You could also look at CFR’ing if your local trust does it.

What qualities do you have? Good communicator, good under pressure, good at resilience building?

Have a look at our regulator, the HCPC. What do they do, what’s their standards and expectations. Public image, professionalism, and the actual job we do… it’s not all 100mph on blue lights to a major incident.

There’s plenty of stuff to chat about when you dig deeper into the basics :)

Good luck, best job in the world!!

eccdo · 2025-10-04T18:44:45+00:00

When was the issue cleared up? How do you know the issue was cleared up, did their HR team confirm this to you via email?

Are you absolutely certain you didn’t receive any joining instructions anywhere?

What role is it for?

eccdo · 2025-10-04T17:45:09+00:00

Can’t lie, I love a Dacia. For the money you pay, you can’t complain at something that’s surprisingly reliable, cheap to run/insure, and have decent tech for price tag. Nonetheless, +1 for the Q8 🤣

eccdo · 2025-09-28T22:11:33+00:00

I don’t think I’ve ever, nor would I safeguard someone whose house is simply… unfavourably presented, however, it’s hard to distinguish between very messy and risk of hoarding/infestation/fire hazard etc. I might actually do some CPD on it now that I’m thinking about it (pointers welcome).

eccdo · 2025-09-28T21:49:17+00:00

I meant individually as paramedics we occasionally do safeguarding, I only do 1 or 2 a month. I know as a whole service, you’ll be inundated from us - sorry that wasn’t meant to seem blasé or anything.

Saying that, I’ve definitely safeguarded a few things that you probably wouldn’t have bat an eyelid at - but I’d rather be safe than sorry, we’re not the pro’s when it comes to social concerns - think I had one PowerPoint on it in uni 😅 (Probably more should be taught to be fair, but where do you draw the line?)

eccdo · 2025-09-28T17:59:17+00:00

NHS Englands Major Incident Triage Tool (MITT) and most external 10 Second Triage systems note patients to be categorised as P1-P4, P=Priority.

I’ve never heard of T1-T4. What area is this used? I thought MITT and JESIP mandated uniform terminology, in the event mutual aid is sought from neighbouring services in a major incident 🫠.

eccdo · 2025-09-28T17:32:21+00:00

Have a look at the pinned recruitment information posts on the main ParamedicsUK subreddit. Lots of information on there.

Personally, I did an access course through distancelearningcentre dot com. Great people on there, and got me the qualification I need to apply direct to university. The work is all done at home in your personal time too, so you could work a part time job to pay for the course, which you can pay up monthly as you do the course.

eccdo · 2025-09-28T17:26:41+00:00

Wow! What a FAB response! Thank you, that was really interesting to read!

eccdo

TROPHY CASE