Paramedics

Baldie

Any Paramedics in here?

I'd like to join them . Does anyone know what the interview is like? What's involved in the interview?

I know you need a minibus licence.

Do you need any previous experience? I know a first aid course would come in handy. Must go and do one....

anyone??

Eoin

Baldie wrote:

Any Paramedics in here?

I'd like to join them . Does anyone know what the interview is like? What's involved in the interview?

I know you need a minibus licence.

Do you need any previous experience? I know a first aid course would come in handy. Must go and do one....

anyone??

There are at least two different types of paramedics in Ireland: Emergency Services and Healthboard paramedics.

The former are also fire fighters and will rotate on a daily/nightly basis between the fire engine and the ambulance. Healthboard paramedics are full time paramedics.

AFAIK you also require a specific qualification to drive an emergency services vehicle (although strangely, the Gardai do not need to have anything more than a standard driving license to drive a squad car).

Now I think about it, there are also volunteer paramedics (St Johns). If you have the time, then maybe start here on a voluntary basis. A first aid course would definitely be a good place to start. St Johns may well provide this as part of their training, though this is a pure guess, so you will have to dig deeper on this.

I think the fire service hold a series of annual interviews, and applicants are filtered through a series of tests (aptitude etc). My mate is a fireman, so I can get you some more information on this if required.

Baldie

eoin_s wrote:

There are at least two different types of paramedics in Ireland: Emergency Services and Healthboard paramedics.

Im interested in the full paramedic, in the Ambulance.

eoin_s wrote:

AFAIK you also require a specific qualification to drive an emergency services vehicle (although strangely, the Gardai do not need to have anything more than a standard driving license to drive a squad car).

For the Fire FIghters you need a full C licence, and the Paramedics need a full D1 licemce.
The Gardai would only need a full B licence.

Eoin

Here's a link for you - Ambulance Services is mentioned there:
http://www.careersinhealthcare.ie/

I would think there are a lot of paramedics working who don't drive the ambulance, so the license may not be a requirement up front...

HTH,

Eoin

Baldie

I was actually talking to a paramedic over the weekend. I was working behind the bar at the time so I didn't get a chance to sit down and have a good chat with him. And he was out of a few beers so it wouldn't be fair to have him talking "shop" all night. I don't have a number for him so I said I'd throw up a post about it... Im sure I'll see him next weekend though.

He said that the D1 licence would ba a good help. Even a provisional.

azezil

You don't have to have a drivers licence to be a paramedic, you just can't drive the ambulance till you get one

My BF's just going on 18 and he's a fully qualified EMT, working for a private ambulance service, there were no requirements, he done a beginners course in First aid, then worked his way up doing more advanced courses. Studied for a while in London and the States.

eth0_

There *are* no paramedics in Ireland (stupid country)! Only EMT's.

You need to do a 9 month course to begin with, St Mary's Hospital in the Phoenix Park does the course. More info here:

http://www.mhb.ie/mhb/OurServices/AmbulanceService/CareersintheAmbulanceService/

Eoin

eth0_ wrote:

There *are* no paramedics in Ireland (stupid country)! Only EMT's.

What's the distinction out of curiosity?

Borzoi

eoin_s wrote:

What's the distinction out of curiosity?

The ability/license to administer drugs is one of the key ones.

Ambulance crews, can administer oxygen only. They can try and stop bleeding etc, but their priority is to get you to the hospital for treatment.

seamus

"Paramedic" implies that you are as equally qualified as a medic/doctor. "EMT" means Emergency Medical Technician, i.e. you know just enough to issue emergency medical treatment (First Aid, though a bit more detailed than that).

N_Raid

Yeah as has been said before, paramedics being able to give certain types of drugs (painkillers etc, while the most EMTs can give for pain relief is Entonox or gas and air as it's known) is one of the main distinctions. Also EMTs, under Irish law, are not allowed to break the skin for any procedure, whereas paramedics can put in cannulas and drips etc. But apart from things like that the only main difference is that a paramedic is a higher level of training. There are no paramedics in the country at the moment because someone at the department of health 'forgot' to send whatever documents they were supposed to send to brussels as it would require a change of law (or something to that effect) but there are a batch of paramedics, trained up and ready to go but just waiting for the official certification and the go ahead. And there's gonna be a name change too pretty soon too so every current EMT will be a Paramedic-B. and people who are actually trained as Paramedics will be Paramedic-A. Just another ploy by Bertie and Co. to ease public concerns without actually doing anything. Anyway I'm gone way off topic so:

At the moment for the Emergency services (Dublin Fire Brigade and the various Health boards around the country) you need a D1 licence to apply. The E.R.A.S. are bringing in new ambulances though, and for them you need a C1 licence so if you're thinking of applying there you will probably need both C1 and D1 licences. For the Private services (Lifeline and Medicall ) it's up to themselves, look at what azezil said for example.

But it would be a good idea to get at least a First Aid (you can do one with any of the voluntary first aid organisations as far as I know) or even better a first responder course which is basically higher level of training, before you apply because although it's not a requirement it will go down really well on your application.

I'm not too sure about how often recruitment is but when they do recruit, you do an aptitude test first then the actual interview. As far as I know the interview is pretty much the same as any job interview.

If you want to do a first aid course here are a few numbers.

Order of Malta: 01 6600 507
St. John Ambulance Brigade: 01 6688077
Red Cross: 01 676 5135

I'm not too sure if there are many places you could do a First responder course but I know you can do one in the national ambulance training school in the park. Their number is 01 616 1577

And if you wanna ring to find out about recruitment:

Eastern Regional Health Authority: 01 620 1600
Dublin Fire Brigade: 01 673 4000
Lifeline: 01 6014704
Medicall: 01 4966933

Well Good Luck!

5500

Just to Add to the above in recent weeks Paramedics have gone "live" in Dublin.
Afaik its on a rollout basis with the other counties qualified paramedics working out of dublin for the time being thru the HSE but either ways the relevant forms have gone thru brussels and there ARE paramedics now oncall in RRVs with both the DFB and HSE in Dublin

delly

Off topic, but afaik a Garda doesn't need a licence at all to drive in the course of there duty. I could be wrong but i remember a Garda relative telling me this a number of years ago.

Eoin

delly wrote:

Off topic, but afaik a Garda doesn't need a licence at all to drive in the course of there duty. I could be wrong but i remember a Garda relative telling me this a number of years ago.

I am pretty sure they need a normal driving license, but they probably don't need an advanced test to drive as part of their job.