Life of a paramedic #2 - Advantages and disadvantages

Hey Steemians,

Today I want to write something about the advantages and disadvantages of being a paramedic. After working for almost a year now (internship included) I want to show you why this profession can benefit you in everyday life but also what is important if you consider becoming a paramedic:

Some of the major advantages are:

• Experience

Each day is different! Every day you get to learn anything new, that you didn’t know. The alarm can go off at any time – anytime an accident can happen in your area and you will have to treat the injured people and make a first diagnosis. You barely know what to expect, since every situation is different. The symptoms of a stroke may be similar, but the circumstances are always different. Maybe the patient suffers a stroke, after he behaved completely normal in the past ten minutes. Maybe he has injuries you didn’t notice? The uncertainty builds up your experience – you have to combine parts of your knowledge and adapt them to the current situation as well as make important decisions.

• Dealing with stress

Dealing with stress is one of the most important tasks of a paramedic. You have to stay and act calm while working. Easier said than done. For example, in several situations you have to decide whether you need an emergency doctor or not, whether the patient is still breathing or not or whether to use emergency lights or not. These situations cause stress since it’s a loss of control – but every critical situation you manage to solve helps you dealing with future stress situations and also with stress apart from work.

• Knowledge

During the training for becoming a paramedic you build up your knowledge about diseases, emergencies as well as anatomy and about the devices inside an ambulance. You have to learn a big folder of general information, the symptoms, the complications that may appear, the actions that need to be taken in case of a certain illness or disease. Plus, you actually see how some illnesses manifest, by yourself. That knowledge is also very useful when you’re currently not working but someone in your area needs instant help.

Of course, there are also disadvantages in working as a paramedic. A few of them are:

• Brutal experiences

Sometimes you get to see awful things (for example shredded body parts and wounds, people lying in their own shit, dead people) and you have to cope with these kinds of experiences plus interact with the people. Of course, you get hardened by time but some pictures you just can’t forget. Some people already quit working as a paramedic because of the things they had seen. So, I would say that this profession isn’t suitable for people who can’t see blood and brutal scenes and in general people who react sensitively to pain.

• Scheduling is almost impossible

When you’re starting your shift, you may plan to study for a test or something else. And that’s where this job can be ‘’brutal’’, since you can’t schedule the day. Sometimes it happens that you get into the ambulance at 7 a.m. and get back to your branch at 6 p.m. – so basically sometimes you’re just driving around, transporting people all day long. But that also depends on the size of the branch you’re working at. This can be really annoying, because you can’t even plan your meals.

• Responsibility

What’s one of the biggest advantages is also one of the biggest disadvantages. You have to take responsibility for your actions – like in almost any other profession. But as a paramedic you are responsible for human lives. That is another dimension. Everyone makes mistakes, but it’s important that the patient’s (and the paramedic’s life – especially when driving) life isn’t harmed in any way just because someone didn’t pay attention.

I would definitely say that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, if you are interested in health and medicine in general. However, some people prefer other jobs, since they can’t or want to do this job because of the blood or other reasons. And that’s okay. Everyone should do what fits best for them.

I hope I could give you a few insights of what postitive and negative aspects working as a paramedic contains. Of course, there are many more but I decided to include the ones that are most important to me.

Please notice that this text is written about the paramedic system in Austria! In your country the system can be different.

Stay healthy!