The Student Paramedic Survival Guide

The Student Paramedic Survival Guide gives information and advice to help you succeed in your education and become a registered paramedic. The book supports you from the start of your journey as you choose a programme, through study and practice placements, to the final stages of registration and applying for work. Finally, the book prepares you to make the transition into your first paramedic job.

To equip you with insights into what studying to be a paramedic is really like, the book is packed full of comments from students, paramedics, mentors, paramedic educators and academics. Their expertise and experience will be invaluable as you study and prepare for practice. Other useful tools are included, such as web links for suggested further reading. The book will answer questions such as::

• ?
• Is this the right career for me? ?
• What do I need to consider when choosing a university and programme of study??
• What will I be studying??
• How can I make the most of the simulations that are part of my course??
• Who is there to support me on placements??
• What is it like caring for patients and their families??
• How can I adjust to shift work??
• What can I do to prepare for registration and securing my first job?

The book also includes advice on making the most of your preferred learning style and guidance on how to look after yourself when you encounter traumatic events.Written by a bestselling author with the help of students, practice staff and academics from a variety of higher education institutions, this guide for prospective and current student paramedics is the essential resource to support your journey through the excitement, challenges and realities of being a student paramedic on a higher education programme.

This is a must buy for any student from school leaver to the mature candidate who is thinking of studying to be a Paramedic. The book comprehensively addresses everything from where and how to apply, unpicking the complex picture of fees and funding to the realities of what to expect when you get to University and what its like on placement. With valuable contributions from current students, academics and educators this book explains everything you need to know and might not have thought you needed to know before you apply.
Mark Nevins, Senior Lecturer, Teeside University, UK, and NMC Registered Adult Nurse and HCPC Registered Paramedic

I would consider this book as required reading for anyone considering embarking on a career as a paramedic. It is honest, informative and true to life. I liked the way that all aspects of student life were covered, from applications, to studying and placements and finally being out in the world.

This job isnt what a lot of people seem to think it is but Amanda has gone to great lengths to myth bust. This book shows a depth and consideration that all prospective paramedic students should appreciate. It is clear that a great deal of effort has gone into this survival guide.
Mark Young, Paramedic & Practice Placement Educator, South East Coast Ambulance Service, UK

I liked the way that the book utilises a cross-section of students, practitioners and academics when providing opinions on the student paramedic journey, as this provides the triangulation required to ensure the views presented are representative of the student paramedic arena. It will provide a useful guide to the mysteries of the student journey. It is also useful that it illustrates the differences across the whole of the UK and considers the different approaches and how they can change the coping mechanisms that need to be used, and that are in place.

The 4 sections provide an excellent overview of the 4 areas that most student paramedics want to, and need to, know, and answers a number of the questions (if not all) asked very effectively. The sections also support the needs of the profession, as well as the students own professional journey; covering a number of areas that are part of the institutional and ambulance Trusts inductions.

It is useful to note that the Survival Guide also recognises the differences the student paramedic experiences when compared to other students in universities. This means that the Survival Guide can act as an aide memoire that is available when those difficult questions come up that need an immediate answer that can allay fears and anxieties and signpost the students to the places they can get support. This aspect is helped by the shared experiences from past and present students and practitioners, who act as mentors and paramedic educators to the students.

This book has been a long time coming and will, based on my experience, help the student to have a better transition towards their future professional role.
Lizzie Ryan, Education Business Manager and Clinical Training Manager (East) at South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, UK, also Lecturer at Bournemouth University, UK and Plymouth University, UK and the Open University, UK