Partners

As I am taking my ambulance IHCD I have been out on a couple of shifts ('third manning') with the BRCS. We go out to non-urgent calls, but of course sometimes non-urgent can turn into urgent. I find that it really makes a difference who you're working with as to how good a shift you'll have.

Jake* is employed by the local ambulance service, and often wears his green uniform outside of work. He is aware that this can get him into trouble, but continues to do this. All I hear from him is boasting about how much he knows about ambulances and how he should be on the A&E vehicles, and I know one of his colleagues has recently been accepted onto a paramedic course. Jake's friend is very good at his job and I have seen him with patients, I think he'll make a great paramedic. All Jake could do was slate him and moan about how it should be himself on the course. The thing is, Jake thinks he is very good, and I'm sure he could be, but I have seen him treat patients... He can sounds very patronising and sarcastic, and can even make jokes about something important to the patient (like the fact that they have a debilitating condition). He is very quick to complain about management and his job. This is why an 8 hour shift with Jake can feel like forever.

Ben* is my favourite. Ben is my role model. But most of all, Ben is one of the best friends anyone could ask for. Ben has the experience of being a paramedic for 20 years, and should my life ever be in danger *touches wood* I would want him to turn up at my door. But it isn't his knowledge or experience that makes him so good to work with, its his attitude. Whenever I work with him, even in emergency situations, he gives me the equipment and I get on with it. He watches over me, advising me, encouraging me and helping me to think about how I could have done better. He is the best teacher anyone could ask for, although he doesn't think so himself. He has taught me most of what I know, and if it wasn't for him I wouldn't be doing my job now. He even bought me my first pair of boots to wear on the ambulance, because he knows that one day I will be one of the best paramedics he's ever known (or so he tells me...)

We often cover motorcross events, and every time I have attended there has been at least one fracture. The last time, when I was partnered with Ben, a young lad had come off his bike and dislocated his shoulder. This was treated very seriously, me and Ben had our game faces on. Ben handed me his trauma scissors, I cut through the lad's clothes. Ben prepared the entonox cylinder, then handed it to me to use. When the ambulance turned up, I expected to be left behind whilst Ben went with them, given that he was so much more experienced, but he shut the doors on us and I went as well. I was helping the paramedic in the back with the entonox and the morphine, and talking the boy through everything that was happening. All the time, Ben was there behind me, giving me that confidence to do a good job.

He criticises my actions in such a way that it isn't negative, it becomes an objective for me to achieve next time. The only criticism he has given me recently is that I lack in confidence, and I sometimes hold back, so I need to go with my instincts like he would. Working with the right people can make your shift one of the best you've ever had, even when your ambulance spends 8 hours as a free taxi for the intoxicated.