From July 2020 this blog will be available at www.gbuparamedic.com/blog. All of the posts here on Blogger have been migrated so can be read either here or there. Thanks for reading...see you over at the GBU Paramedic site. If you're just looking for a copy of the book you can find it at most major retailers online in paperback, hardcover, eBook and audiobook formats or visit the GBU Paramedic store to order yours now ..read more

The sea of healthcare is unsettled right now. In varying states of flux around the world, we are either inundated and struggling to stay afloat or, for the more fortunate, cautiously waiting. Full of hope and dread until the status quo changes for better or for worse. A proactive approach to dropping anchor, however, appears to be haste. Accelerating the pathways that enable graduate paramedics, nurses, midwives, doctors and other health professionals to join our ranks, before the vessel we travel upon, together, begins to sink. Numbers are already dwindling as frontline care providers st ..read more

Empathy may be a confusing and contrary word, but one with great value, particularly in providing a buffer against professional burnout and in building positive relationships with patients. As one of those "soft skills" integral to the paramedic's toolkit, it is encouraging to see how widely it appears in research, training, leadership and culture. Confusion arises, for the most part, around the definition itself. Amongst similar concepts of sympathy, compassion, mimpathy, compathy, unipathy and transpathy, each holds different meaning to the individual. For simplicity's sake, a broad ove ..read more

When were you last strapped to a stretcher with cervical spine stabilisation in place? What experience do you have in being wheeled out of a building on a carry chair? Have you ever watched medical professionals preparing equipment and felt scared? Something that we may not do often enough is put ourselves in the patient’s position, quite literally, to gain an understanding of how they may feel during our interactions and interventions. In years gone by, this happened more often. We may have been instructed to lay on the stretcher and be wheeled up and down bumpy pathways. It may ..read more

When we get it wrong at work…how does it feel? If we make a mistake in provisional diagnosis and treatment…how does it affect our patient? For those of us who feel comfortable that we’ve been "in the game" long enough that we don’t need to be concerned, it’s vital to remember that it’s not just new paramedics and healthcare professionals making errors. One of the most common causes of medical mistakes and misdiagnosis is that of overconfidence. In the case of paramedics, we often remain oblivious to any incorrect clinical interpretations, as we are not providing our pat ..read more

As paramedics, whilst we often take great offence at being called ambulance drivers, the question is, when it’s our turn to drive, what exactly is it that we are providing?  Do we fully engage in shared patient care with our attending partner, or do we switch off so that we can simply drive the ambulance and take it easy? With so many countries and jurisdictions now regulated, or about to be, we are beginning to see considerable change in how paramedics operate within (as well as how we ourselves view) both attending and driving roles. For some, this is likely to be welcomed, but for ..read more

One of the subjects that comes up often in articles, blog posts, social media comments and in general ambulance related conversation is that of ego. Whilst we tend to use it as a negative reference, it’s important to remember that it does have some benefits. Paramedics need to step up in unusual circumstances as a matter of course, so we absolutely must do whatever it takes to make ourselves feel brave in that moment. We need to convince ourselves that our voices have value, simply so that we can force ourselves to command enough bystander attention to ensure safety at a scene. It’s nece ..read more

It may be holiday season for many,but in the world of a first responder, through busy, crazy, intense shifts our minds will try not to wander, to our families, those we care for most, but whom we’ll likely see the least, whilst we tend to patient emergencies, due to trauma, illness, famine and feast. The demand is almost as high as the stress, amongst a relentless barrage of calls. Seasonal tension building up into fights, too much alcohol resulting in brawls. Domestic violence on a saddening scale, illicit substances out of control, people killing each other over this drug or that, th ..read more

There exists an invisible phenomenon in paramedicine, along with many other professions, that whilst it's absolutely essential, it can quickly become debilitating if we don’t keep watch over its sneaky and pervasive nature. In trying to quantify this unspoken “thing" that we develop, with time and experience, in order to write about it in The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Paramedic, it took days and days of mind mapping, scribbling and drawing before it began to make any sense. Finally, describing it as “The Bluff” in the form of a coat that we wear when necessary, seemed to fit, and it ..read more