Paramedic / Ambulance Driver

fend

Hi ALL!

Just wondering how does one go about being an ambulance driver / Paramedic?
Is it a college degree course or a course that you do with a private company?

Anyone have any details about it?

ch252

Have you any experience in the area? If not a good start would be to join a voluntary. I would recommend civil defence as they cover rescue and firefighting, if you want to apply to the Dublin Fire Brigade that would be an advantage. Other options are St. Johns ambulance Order of Malta, Red Cross etc.
Secondly you need a C1 and D1 license or you cannot apply.

You can go to uni in England for it but applications have closed for this year. Apllications are handled by ucas.com. I applied to a few this year, here's an example of one they offer http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/3409/BSc+(Hons)+Paramedic+Practitioner+(Community+Emergency+Health If you do it over there you will have to register and sit a test maybe with Phecc, they govern all this business in Ireland. In case you aren't aware it stands for the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council and their website is www.phecit.ie.

If you don't want to go to England then you can do the emt course in Galway and they will soon do the paramedic course I hear. That will be expensive though, I will PM you the details if you wish as they don't allow mentioning the institutions name over on the es forum. If mods allow it I'll post it here. The register of emt's is saturated at the minute and there are no jobs in it from what I hear. Emt's would only cover patient transfers really, paramedics and advanced paramedics work on the HSE ambulances. The HSE advertise vacancies every so often and you can apply directly to them (if you have the driving licenses) and they will train you up to Paramedic standard. It's pretty competitive from what I hear and at the moment that's the only way to become a paramedic in Ireland.

Just to clarify I am not a paramedic, I'm doing the leaving cert this year and becoming a paramedic is something I want to do. There are plenty of paramedics and other es workers on boards though so it shouldn't be long before one comes. No doubt I left out a lot in the above and I'm sure there are a few mistakes thrown in so they will give you a better idea but I'll answer all I can. There's a wealth of info on the emergency services forum too here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1023

Feel free to pm me if you want to ask me anything or post here. I hope it was remotely informative:)

paraletic

its a great career, good luck with it.

I would advise you to visit an ambulance base, most of the lads would be happy to give you advice. (some of it will probably be bull:D)
Bring biscuits!!

as other poster said - CIVIL DEFENCE - they started me out. and they do great work (and its great craic), you can sometimes use their vehicles to do tests etc

the dub fire brigade are (mostly) all trained paramedics try them as well as HSE.

how old are you, (u must be 21 for d1 licence) if you get a chance go to college and live a bit before you focus totally on ambo work,
you can do the private EMT course, in the mean time.

Jammyc

Theres also a course run in Dun Laoghaire for this. I know 2 guys that have either been through it or are in it and they only have good things to say about it.

You do an EFR and EMT course which is I think the minimum standard for working with the HSE/DFB (dont hold me to that though).

Heres the link:
http://www.scd.ie/FireAmbulance_Service_Course/Default.228.html

paraletic

Jammyc wrote: »

Theres also a course run in Dun Laoghaire for this. I know 2 guys that have either been through it or are in it and they only have good things to say about it.

You do an EFR and EMT course which is I think the minimum standard for working with the HSE/DFB (dont hold me to that though).

Heres the link:
http://www.scd.ie/FireAmbulance_Service_Course/Default.228.html

don't know that course in dunlaoire, i don't think they run a course in ambulance service - that seems to be some sort of student show case-

but minimum level to work on an emergency ambulance is paramedic, the only place to train is with HSE national ambulance service college, nats.ie, or with the dub fire brig. in the o'brien institute. - alot of private ambo work now requires paramedic level too.

you can work on private (or patient transport ambulances) with EMT level.
i think even volunteer ambos need EMT level.
a few places train to EMT level.

EFR, CFR etc are advanced first aid certs really. they don't allow you to work on an ambulance (according to phecc - i think)

All the info is on the phecc website (phecit.ie) ie. what levels do what and there is a list of accredited training institutes.

coolmoose

fend wrote: »

Hi ALL!

Just wondering how does one go about being an ambulance driver / Paramedic?
Is it a college degree course or a course that you do with a private company?

Anyone have any details about it?

Here ya go!

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055986379

Sorry it took so long!