Am I smart enough to become a Paramedic?

At Australian Paramedical College, we believe everyone is smart enough to study to become an Ambulance Paramedic (university degree required) or Medic/Emergency Medical Technician in the private sector. You can achieve great things when you set your mind to it, irrespective of your educational background and achievements.

In short, here are some ideas to think about;

  • Be accountable
  • Balance your study, work and social life
  • Set yourself up
  • Learn from your mistakes
  • Do what’s best for you

Becoming a Paramedic/Medic/Emergency Medical Technician requires a lot of dedication and studying but above all you need to possess the passion for helping those who need it the most. If this is a career you really want to develop for yourself and you’re willing to study smart, there’s nothing stopping you!

For more information please call 1300 377 741.

The types of things that you will have to learn or become familiar with are:

  • Basic math for drug calculations and dosages
  • Anatomy and physiology of the human body
  • The disease process and how it affects the body (Pathophysiology)
  • Critical thinking and the ability to react under pressure

1. Be accountable.

Set yourself specific goals and timelines. Without these you could lack motivation and accountability. One way to help with this is to share your ambitions with a family member or friend, that way you have someone to remind you of these goals and help keep you on track towards that paramedic dream.

As a student of the College, you have access to the dedicated Student Support Team who help you keep your studies on track, reaching your goals within the time frames.

2. Prioritise Triage

To be clear, triage means to decide the order of treatment (who gets treated first) when a large number of patients or casualties present themselves.
You learn triage as part of your studies, so why not employ it in everyday life? Many students can find it challenging at times to balance the study, work and their social life. If you’re having problems fitting everything in, or you are constantly feeling rushed, try one of these two things:

  1. Identify time-stealing activities such as scrolling on Facebook and minimise them.
  2. Learn to say no to activities that interfere with your study goals. 

By doing these two things, you will alleviate some additional stress and improve the chances of finishing your study sooner.

3. Set yourself up

Leading on from the above point, it’s always a good idea to set clear guidelines and plans to make the most out of your study time.

  1. Set up a quiet, comfortable and distraction-free space that make you feel happy and inspired
  2. Identify and create a regular study time that suits you
  3. Set alarms, make to-do-lists and set timers to help keep you honest and on track.

Once this is all set up, you’re good to go!

4. Learn from your mistakes

No-one is perfect, we all know that. In fact, in the medical field, perfection doesn’t exist. Rather than dwelling on an error you made in a workbook or at a clinical workshop, the best advice is to learn from it and move on.

5. Do what’s best for you

Most people have a preferred style of learning. This learning style is formed in your early childhood and school years. You may be one of those people who like to listen to audio books, or watch a video, or read lists of facts, or maybe you prefer a classroom and a lecturer directing the learning.

Whichever it is, (there may be more than one style you prefer), it’s important to identify how you learn best, then make the most of what’s provided by your course provider.

The different learning styles are;

  • Auditory (learn by listening to audio, podcasts, narration etc)
  • Visual (learn by seeing videos, watching demos and looking at presentations)
  • Kinaesthetic (learn by a mix of senses, yet learn more efficiently by doing physical and practical activities)

Maybe you could listen to emergency medical podcasts, watch reality TV shows like Ambulance Australia, or some of the UK Ambulance shows. It’s also important to gather information yourself. Learn about how the parts of human anatomy fit together, or make an interactive PowerPoint showing how the body changes during the disease process. You could write up revision cards with different acronyms or mnemonics (the study and development of systems for improving and assisting the memory), or invent a song about the diffusion of oxygen and cardiac depolarization.

 

 

What is your career journey?

To discover how you can become a fully qualified Ambulance Paramedic or Basic/Advanced Life Support Medic, complete a personalised paramedical career development plan.