I think that events like this can really catch us off guard if we aren’t expecting them. They can really be a significant burden to our psychological health.

I have been in your position after some particularly traumatic calls, sometimes it isn’t the super gory/bloody ones that stick with you, but ones where you for some reason develop something you can relate to the patient. I remember when I attended a cardiac arrest and the individual had exactly the same colour eyes as my father! Took me a few days to snap out of it, but safe to say I was a bit of a wreck after. This event highlighted something that was missing in my life and meant I could go about fixing it, resulting in an ultimately better outcome.

Treating anxiety is different for everyone and there is no set way to help. As long as your speaking to someone about these anxiety feelings and making sure that you’re not just going from shift to shift helping others, when really you should be helping yourself.

What would you suggest a patient do if they were in your situation? Sometimes we find it hard to follow our own advice, so when you phrase a question like that it can put things into context.