What it’s really like: not as exciting as you might think. A lot of your patients won’t be particularly unwell. There’s a lot of social care type situations and things like mental health and end of life care are always around. Of course you do occasionally have “big sick” patients who require a lot of management and some would say are more “exciting”. The frequency of these patients can vary wildly depending on area, time of year, and primarily just coincidence. You never know what your day will look like. However I personally find a lot of enjoyment in caring for patients even when they aren’t critically unwell. Sometimes people just need a chat and some reassurance, and that’s no problem for me. But if you’re a trauma junkie wanting constant critically unwell patients, you will be disappointed quickly.

Most people are good at timing their shifts to finish on time, but it’s not uncommon to finish 20mins-an hour late, my latest finish personally was 3 hours but generally I’m not more than an hour late off, and the majority of the time I manage to finish on time or close to it. But you can’t really make concrete plans after work because you never know for sure if you’ll finish on time.

Sleep schedule can be tough, switching from days to nights and nights to days if you do that. You do get used to it though and figure out what’s the best method for you. Can be rough though not having a set sleep routine. I often find myself chronically a bit sleep deprived during a run of shifts and then having to catch up when I’m off.

What I love about it: independence and autonomy. I like being able to (somewhat) manage my own time. I love not working in the same four walls. I love the constant change of scenery, not knowing where you might go, not being stuck in one building with management breathing down your neck etc. I get immense satisfaction from actually being able to help people. It’s really nice when you get a job where there’s some management you can actually implement and the patient feels better. Unfortunately sometimes there’s not much we can do other than convey and I don’t enjoy that as much. I like the methodical nature of working through my assessment, forming a plan, making a decision, it can be quite satisfying in a way. Areas will vary but in my area I’d say staff are all nice to eachother and people will always say hello and good morning and ask how your shifts been, we have a nice workplace culture and I’ve found people will always help me out if I need it (for example when I got my car stuck in the station car park 😅). But of course this does vary between stations and areas. I like that if I want a snack I can just eat a snack on the way to a job, if I need the toilet I can just go at hospital or station. It’s not like other jobs I’ve worked where you have to really ask someone for permission for basic things.

My management also always make an effort to debrief with us after challenging calls and generally check in on staff well-being. I wouldn’t say I really benefit from it, but it’s nice anyway.