One for the Paramedics

5500

Hi Guys
Im looking for some general info on the way things work for you in both DFB and NAS.Come next recuitment i plan on trying to enter but id love more of an insight into both services.

I understand your rostered for ambo duties in the DFB,how many times is it per week?Can you elect to work fulltime on the ambo?

Also for NAS,are you working fulltime frontline or how are duties split up with P/T?

How are you fixed for furthering yourself in either job.ie Advanced paramedic?

What are working hours and conditions like in either service?

Any information i could gain from both sides would be excellent.

Also on a side note,if you advance to Advanced para level,and say your working on an ambulance or Engine and are called to a case,can you still use your specific skills and drugs as required or are things under supervision?Reason i ask is i have seen the rrv vehicles a few times but have noticed a guy in a doctor jacket and wondered were there set protocols?

Also if theres anyone in the ambulance service in northern ireland id like to hear how things work there too

u2gooner

Hi eireal,
I can only speak for Dfb here but hopefully I can help.

In DFB, like you said, You are rostered on the ambulance with everyone else in your station. So, it really depends on which station you work in as to how often you are rostered on the ambulance. The more appliances in the station, the more people on the watch, therefore the longer you will be off the ambulance. If the ambulance is a major reason for you joining the DFB, then a 1 pump station is for you. A 1 pump works out as ambulance every 3rd day and 3rd night on duty. You'll be on the Fire Appliance the other 2 days and Nights.
You cannot elect to work fulltime ambulance or fulltime Fire as its a combined service. The fire appliance gets alot of calls to ambulance cases aswell tho so you still have an opportunity to practice your skills when on the appliance.

Working conditions are very good in DFB. The hours are 0900 to 1800 day shifts( 9 hours ), 1800 to 0900 night shifts (15 hours). It works out roughly as 3 on 3 off. There is 4 watches A,B,C and D. The Ambulance can be very busy with little opportunity for breaks sometimes but its still a great job and Im happy to say Im one of the few people out there who can say they look forward to going to work everyday.

As far as Im aware you can practice to whatever level you are trained to whether that be EMT, Paramedic, or advanced Paramedic. It doesnt matter which appliance you are on at the time. Im not too sure how it works as theres no APs on my watch but I guess they'd have to bring their equipment with them on the Fire Engine as the ambulances are not stocked with AP gear.

The doctor you may have seen would have been there either supervising an AP who was training or as part of their own training. They are not required to travel. Once an AP is qualified they do not need supervision.

Advanced Paramedic level is open to anyone in the job who aspires to the position, athough there may have to be a minimum years service as Paramedic first, Il have to clarify that.

Hope this helps

timmywex

Om open to correction, but i thought the advanced paramedics in DFB were full time ambulance workers because of their skill level, i thought they had 2 cars, emt alpha 1 & 2 as response cars?

Smokey Bear

The AP's are not full time yet as the cars are not on the road 24/7.I belive in order to operate 24/7 you need a certain amount trained across all watches.This number may not have been achived yet or more likely funding issues?The AP when not on ambo duty,brings there bag with them on the motor.

Smokey Bear.

Tango Alpha 51

Hi Eireal,
From an NAS point of view, I'll try & answer some questions from you.

1) The NAS run emergency,urgent & pts calls whereas the DFB only do emergency calls. Therefore if you opt for the NAS you could be on an emergency call one minute & the next call might be PTS

2) You need to be 5yrs post qualified as a paramedic before you can go forward for the Advanced Paramedic programme.

3) For the first few years, you will be relief. You will usually get your hours for the following week on the preceeding Friday. But then again you might be lucky enough to fall into a rostered position within a station.

4) Since we're a national service like the Gardai now, everything is changing including the recruitment process & where you will be stationed.

5) You will need to have the following full driving licences prior to joining, B,D1 & C1.

6) You will practice at whatever level you are licenced by the PHECC to. AP's are not under clinical supervision unless they are in training. Once they graduate, they operate under Clinical Practice Guidlines Advanced (CPG-A's). EMT's & Paramedics also have their own separate guidlines.

7) Again depending on where your stationed will dictate whether you work 8hr shifts or 12hr shifts

Like U2, i am in the fortunate position to say that I enjoy going to work everyday as no two days will be the same.

5500

Thanks for the info,
So with NAS your day can vary between calls?Its not a case of rostered for PT on X Y Z and emergency only on other days?

Also what are the new merc ambulances like to drive?They look like barges on the roads!

One thing i have always wondered is how do you not take your work home with you?For instance if you had a bad case that may be fatal when you first enter or even into your years of service does it tend to play on your mind much?

What are entrance exams like for either service?are the D1 & C1 required for DFB or just B?

Also i remember hearing before (and it may well be waffle) that as part of the DFB training you had to crawl out of a tunnel with your BA blackened out,if you panicked it was automatic out the door sonny,also a simular story about locking your legs in a ladder and falling backwards!?!

From a call perspective would you be dealing with serious cases most of the time where your getting to fully use your skills or is alot of work taxi ride's for drunks?What would the average amount of cases be per shift?

In DFB are you rostered between special appliances too?Like is an ET or Ladder classed as special or are you appointed on them the same way you would with a motor?

u2gooner

As regards taking things home with you, there tends to be a firebrigade way of dealing with things over a cup of tea back at the station where guys will talk about a particularly bad case. Ive seen some nasty stuff and I have to say nothing has affected me really ( well I hope not, a psychiatrist might say otherwise )

At the moment only a B licence is required for DFB but this may change as the new ambulances are C1.

The recruitment process for DFB is very long winded and highly contested. They try to get numbers of about 10,000 applicants down to around 180 - 200 every two to three years. It starts with an aptitude test which leaves around 600 who go forward for interview. After the interview, the panel of 180 - 200 is drawn up which the recruit classes will be drawn from over the next couple of years. At this stage you will have had a background check with Garda Vetting etc, etc. When youre called to join a recruit class, you have to do a medical and physical tests in the OBI training centre in Marino.

The physical tests involve a blacked out BA wear like you described which involves tunnels, tight spaces, lots of noise, etc. This is a claustrophobia test. Its not as bad as it seems but if you really have a fear of enclosed spaces it might not be for you.
The ladder aspect is to test your fear of heights, you will be asked to climb to the head of a 13.5m ladder and then asked to communicate certain things with the officer below to prove youre not just sitting up there with your eyes closed. You dont fall backwards, you just look backwards over your shoulder with no hands. The leg lock will be explained and demonstrated to you prior to you ascending the ladder.

Alot of cases DFB respond to are not serious. Unfortunatly the system doesnt differentiate between an emergency case and a case that could wait a couple of hours to be brought to hospital. Then again you could get a shooting, an RTA, and a cardiac arrest all one after the other. Thats the beauty of it, you never know!! But it can get frustrating when you respond at 4am on a rainy winters night to someone with a pain in the top of their little finger ( yes that happened )

On days in DFB there would be an average of 10-15 cases and about 15-20 on nights. Again, it depends on the night of the week and sometimes you can be surprised at how quiet a Saturday night is or how busy a Thursday is - ya never know.

About the specials, like I said in a previous post, it depends which station youre in as to how often you do ambulance duties. If theres an ET, Ladder, Tunnel Vehicle, etc in your station then you will be marked on that appliance in turn with everyone else, therefore spending less time on the Ambulance. Swords, Finglas, Kilbarrack, Blanchardstown, and Rathfarnham are one-pump stations housing only one Ambulance and one Fire Appliance.