Life of a Trainee Paramedic

The title of this post is exactly what happened to me today.  At home, were having new radiators and a new boiler put in, as the old one is complete rubbish and does not heat up the house.  With my nan, who is coming to live with us soon, my parents thought it best to invest and do the work now before she moves down.

There was just the plumber and me in the house and he asked me to look for any leaks in the radiators while he turned on the boiler in its new home up the loft.  I couldn’t see any leaks but for a little drop from a radiator but then we heard some drips which appeared to be coming from the ceiling in the living room.  So off the plumber went to quickly turn off the hot water again, and so the dripping sound stopped.  Then all of a sudden, there was this mighty sound, just like a gun shot.  I thought the roof was going to cave in, but then I saw shards of lightbulb down besides me.  Then another ’shot’.  What had happened was the water had been pooling in the light dish in the middle of the ceiling and we hadnt noticed, which then caused the lightbulbs to explode, frightening me to death.  A few deep breaths were taken after that. 

They have no idea where the leak is coming from, but luckily I’m heading back today so I won’t have to deal with any mess. 

So the moral of the story is, when there is any plumbing work being done, do not stand directly under any lights!

TP

I hope everyone had a good weekend.  I had a great weekend, it was nice to see my friends whom I hadn’t seen in a while.  I even got a Sunday lunch out of it.  I know that I said I would post yesterday, but i was preoccupied with the Computer Devil who forced me to completely wipe my system, even though I only had it last week, and to then re-install windows.  I had already tried re-installing windows but then I had 2 desktop areas and then my product key wasn’t valid, so on the phone I went to the call centre in India trying to sort it out.  Now I know that its cheaper to send the calls half way around the world, but please Microsoft, can you get someone to speak clear English.  I thought I was talking to my sister!

Thankfully I managed to work it, and now my new computer is working like a charm, thanks to the computer god.  At this point in writing the post, I had a call from Microsoft to check about the service I had and I honestly couldn’t fault them.  They rang me back rather than waste my (aka Parents) money on the phone and went through every step with me so they were Excellent, albeit a little hard to understand sometimes.

Back at home, I went to see my god daughter yesterday.  I saw her 2 weeks ago, but as she hadn’t seen me for a while, she took a while to take to me again, she actually cried! This time though I came bearing gifts and she loved it and now she can actually wave.  She was barely crawling 2 weeks ago but now she’s a little rocket baby across the floor!  I entertained her while her family were having dinner by playing the tunes of my phone, she was jigging on the floor like a proper dancer.  That was until I played the Psycho soundtrack, when I got the baby look of ‘what the hell is that?’.  I’m off out tonight for a meal with my best friends family as its his birthday, and then back up to TP-town tomorrow.

I’m meeting my mentor in the afternoon so that I can have a chat about what he expects from me and what I expect from him.  I’m really looking forward to starting now, it doesnt seem like its been 5 months since we actually started.  I think some revision will be in order of the drug guidelines that we have and some reading on procedures before I go out.  It could either be nights from friday, or days.  It would be a baptism of fire if it was nights, although where I live it doesnt seem like it would be that bad to me, but I dont want to tempt fate.

TP

Well I’m off to a friends this weekend for her birthday.  We were both at Chester together and I havn’t seen her since Graduation in November, so I thought I’d make the effort to go and visit.  Were off to a comedy club, and having been to one before, I’m quite sure that it is going to be a good night. 

From there I’m going to be heading home for a few days as I might as well make the most of the time that I’ve got off before I start placement.  Should be good, as it’s also my best friends birthday, so I’ll get to see him which I wouldn’t have done otherwise.  I think were also going to try out the new ice rink that has just opened, although I’m a little dubious at this, as I can see myself breaking an arm or a leg before I even start placement (that does not mean I’m bad at ice skating)

I picked up my new computer today, I’d finally had enough of the other one, which I’ve had for 3.5 years, and I wanted to upgrade.  Bad mistake, first the monitor stopped working, and when I took it back miraculously started working again, making me look like an idiot.  Then the mouse and keyboard wouldn’t work, and then to top it off, it now says that I need to insert the main system Cd, which I accidentally left in the shop.  So thanks Mr Computer God, you’ve really been kind to me! I’ve got to be there for 9 in the morning so I can get it sorted before I drive to meet my friends for 12.  So no blogging now until Monday!

Have a good weekend!

TP

Well, thats it, there all over, I’m now free from Uni until May.  The exams today were both good and not so good.  Out of the 3 systems that we could have had to examine, we had the Respiratory system and the Abdominal system.  I don’t think I do to bad on these, not enough to fail them anyway.  I’m sure everyone knows what its like to finish something, leave the room, and then while your doing the next thing, remember what you’d forgot to do in the room before.  This happened to me several times.  The 2 ‘patients’ we had were very good and didnt mind what we did to them, or whether our hands were cold, so we were all a little more relaxed.  It doesn’t really take that long to take a history when you know what questions to ask, and you can gain a lot of information that would otherwise not be forthcoming due to the patient no thinking that it is relevant.

The written exams on the systems were different to how I was expecting them to be, so I’m not so sure how I’ve done on these.  If I havnt passed them though, it wont be the end of the world as I would only have to re-do these and not the whole assessment again.  However, lets not tempt fate.

After we had finished our assessment’s, we were not allowed to go home until the other people in our group had finished.  Due to my surname being at the latter end of the alphabet, there would be no one for me to actually call to talk about the exams (not that I would), as everyone who was left were also having their exams, and so consequently there would have been no way to contact them.  What did happen was for us all to go back to the same room and try and hold our mouth. This was a lot harder than it appears, as even though none of us intentionally wanted to pass on any information about the assessments, the lecturers didn’t account for the slip of the tongue.  For example when a colleague said they had done one of the examinations, it was incredibly easy for someone who had done both to say “oh which one, the abdo or the respiratory”.  Without even thinking you’ve just let slip what the assessments are, completely unintentional.  I would think it a bit wiser next time to put the completed students into a different room so this type of mistake cannot happen. 

When we had finished, a few of us went down the local pub, where they are serving the carvery for 99p!  How can you say no to a carvery for 99p.  Also, due to the fact that there was a bit of a delay, they brought us out some free meal tickets, and we hadnt said anything at all, so it was much appreciated.  I gave mine to a colleague, as I dont live at Uni so someone who does might aswell get the use out of it.

Tonight I’m off to badminton again, and my arm has still not recovered from the last time I played so we shall see how I do!

TP

Countdown to Placement T-Minus 7 days!

By the end of today I will have had 5 days off, and I honestly do not know where all the time has gone.  I had a nice weekend doing hardly anything but then the last couple of days I have been having to revise for my exams tomorrow.  I havn’t found the revision to bad, I just stick some music on and get down to some reading and remembering.  Luckily a lot of the first stage of the different examinations are the same, what you do for all patients, the usual DR AcBCDE, and then BP and Pulse.  The examination use all the same techniques however.  Palpation (feel), Percussion (Tap) and Auscultation (Listen). 

We have 2 patient assessments and then 2 written, short answer exams on the systems that we have just examined.  By this time tomorrow, it will all be over.

I have had some good news today though.  We’ve had our module results for our first semester.  As you know about the lead balloon that was the first module, in which I got 40%, we also had an IT module and a module with other Health Care Professionals, the Foundations of Interprofessional Practice.  I think it was intended for us to understand each others profession’s, but it was mainly about professionalism, communication and ethics, which I suppose is involved in all of our professions.  I got 74% overall for this module which I am really pleased about. 62% for the essay we had to do and 86% for a Stats test and a search proforma.  So that means that 25% of the course is done and dusted, 75% left to go!

Today I also had an email of the Prime Minister, just like 1.8 million others about Road Pricing.  There wasn’t really any mention about road pricing though, no facts or figures, just a lot of information about how much it would cost if we didn’t do anything.  Plus I think even though I’m against road pricing, up to £30 million per mile of motorway is just to much money in my opinion.  That could mean a 10 mile motorway costing a whooping £300 million.  Is that worth it? We shall see what happens in the years to come.

TP

As mentioned in the previous post, I was going to a badminton club last night.  I used to play Badminton on a regular basis when I was at my last Uni, I even managed to force my way into the team in the final year, but there was only really a few players that you could actually have a game with.

After not playing for nearly 8 months, I figured that I would be a little rusty.  This turned out to be true.  Luckily there was only a few of the usual club members there due to it being half term so it broke me in a little bit, and boy did it show me how unfit I am.  It was the first time that I have played a game of singles in a long time, and my opponent, who I would have said was around 40, had been playing regularly for at least a year.  I managed to win the first game, but this depleted all my energy reserves, I could feel the blood literally pumping through my face, I downed my bottle of water in 2 seconds flat, and my legs did not want to move for a least 2 hours.  My opponent (super human that he was) only needed a little fresh air and was ready to go again.

This next game signalled the start of my downfall, I lost 15-9, and then the final 3rd game was a shambles at 15-4!  I did really enjoy playing though and I look forward to going on thursday and then on a regular basis.  It’s a great way to keep fit as I actually felt like I was doing something.  I really can’t be bothered with the Gym, unless there is someone to go with, which forces you to go, and swimming is a bit on and off for me.  Its good that this club has 2 nights where I can play as this helps if on placement I’m on a night shift, I should be able to play the other night.  So here’s to getting fit!

TP

Well I hope everyone has had a good weekend, as I have.  I actually started my next essay and managed to do quite a bit, I’m a little less stressed about that now.  I did have Saturday off though as 4 mornings with starts of 5.55am took there toll.  I’m currently home alone as the family I’m staying with have gone skiing for the week so I offered to look after the dog as-well rather than they pay for him to go into a kennel.  If I would have known how naughty he would be, then I wouldn’t have bothered.

He was out for around 5 hours yesterday in the back garden, and its massive so he can do what he likes rather than being shut up inside.  Literally within 5 minutes of me bringing him back inside, he urinated all over the floor.  I was gobsmacked as he’d had plenty of opportunity to do it in the 5 hours previous, yet he chooses to do it when he comes back inside.  I was not amused.  So you can imagine I was even less amused when he did it again this morning, he just stood there looking at me while he urinated.  So he promptly went outside and that is where he shall stay until he learns to control his bladder.  No treats for him!

As part of our course we have to complete a Portfolio for submission to the Health Professionals Council, which is the governing body for state registered paramedics.  Every Paramedic in the UK has to be registered with them or they cant get a job.  We have to write up critical reflections of the things that we do on placement.  For instance there is a list of a 27 things that we have to discuss and reflect upon.  I was initially confused with this until I spoke with our lecturer on Friday.  I was under the impression that we had to talk about each point 15 times, and I had no clue how I was going to do that.  Me being stupid, I had not looked at it in the way that you can tick a few of them off per reflection, and if I don’t manage to do any then my mentor can set me something to do so that I achieve the outcome.   An example of this is Anaphylactic shock, as I may not come across this while on placement.   We also have clinical competencies to achieve, which also need to be ticked off by our mentor.  We have to pass the portfolio or we do not progress to the next year.

Tonight I’m going down the local badminton club as I think it’s about time I get back into playing some Sport, hopefully it should be fun.

TP

Yesterday was the last day of my 2nd term at Uni, and it was quite a good day really.  It went really quick and I enjoyed all the different skill-stations that we had.  The class is split up into 4 groups which then stay together in those lessons throughout the year.

Our first skill station was our first time at having a go at removing a motorcycle helmet from a patient and how to do it without moving the spine.  It wasnt as difficult as I was expecting but you have to be extremely careful not to knock the helmet as the head would roll with it.

Our second was the same as skill-station 1 except we actually did this in a scenario.  A crew and an FRV came across a motorcyclist that had slid of his bike and as walking around.  We had to make the patient stop moving around and to keep their head still.  One colleague would come in and hold the front of the head, while another would gradually remove the helmet.  A collar would then be fitted before trasferring the patient to a spinal board from a standing position to a lying position.  You have to work with your partner to lower the board at the same time to minimise movement of the neck, which is quite tricky.  Then all that was left was to strap him in and block in their head.  All this is done because when you arrive at a scene, you know nothing about how the accident happened and you have to consider what the mechanisms of injury might be.  There might be nothing wrong with the spine, but you never take the chance (unless the patient refuses to wear a collar or go on the board).

Next we had a go at a few indoor scenarios, one was a diabetic, another was having an asthma attack, while another unfortunate patient was having an MI.  We went in as a crew and asked the questions that would be asked in real-life and then what treatment that we would give them.  As I’ve said before these are what I like the best as it gets you to think about what you know so that you are better able to count or discount some conditions.  There is always a lecturer or a service paramedic with us when we do these stations so its not like we are just going in and treatment a ‘patient’ by ourselves.  There is always someone there to direct us if we go wrong or get stuck.

Our last one was just having a look at the Lifepak 12 machines again to familiarise ourselves before we go out on placement.  Were to hook up the 3-lead ECG, and how to set it on the screen.  We also had a go at Intermediate Life Support, which is exactly like BLS, but with the use of the de-fib and ECG monitor.

What today did show me was that I will have to have a look at the JRCALC guidelines again to refresh my memory before I start placement and be as best prepared as possible.

TP