KEY POINTS:
The Qualification
What: Advanced paramedic with St John, National Diploma in Ambulance (Paramedic) and completing study in Bachelor of Health Science in Paramedic
Where: AUT North Shore campus
Phone: (09) 921-9735 (AUT), (09) 579-1015 (St John)
Email: studentinfo@aut.ac.nz
Web: www.aut.ac.nz, www.stjohn.org.nz
Cost of course: $4279 per annum, uniform $620 in year one, plus clinical activity fees of $2125 over three years
Prerequisites: All applicants considered but 14 level 2 credits in NCEA English and 14 level 3 credits in biology, chemistry, physics or mathematics preferred.
Starting salary: St John graduate recruits start at $36,550, advancing to $55,021 as a paramedic, then $61,003 as an advanced paramedic.
Starting date: February 08, enrolments close Nov 07. The first year intake has 35 places with extra places for people with nursing or ambulance qualifications.
Paramedics need to have the skills and experience to make critical and complex clinical decisions in high-pressure situations.
Often they work in remote or difficult environments, isolated from other health professionals.
In AUTs three-year degree, students learn the technical and theoretical knowledge and gain clinical experience in ambulance services, hospitals and community health settings. Practical work makes up over a third of the programme, with advanced paramedics, emergency nurses, anatomists, doctors, pharmacologists and other specialists teaching the degree.
Applicants who hold qualifications in ambulance para-medicine or nursing are eligible for recognition of prior learning and a part-time study pathway.
Job prospects are excellent, with 95 per cent of AUT graduates employed in New Zealand. The other 5 per cent are working overseas.
On completion of the paramedic degree, St John assesses graduates authority to practise as an advanced paramedic. Areas assessed included include clinical competency, maturity of decision making, anticipated ongoing exposure, behaviour patterns and revalidation status.
THE GRADUATE
Ben Lockie, 27
St John advanced paramedic
Graduated November 2006
I have been with the ambulance service for a while, qualifying last year as an advanced paramedic.
My father is an advanced paramedic and my mother is a nurse so I have been in and out of ambulances since I was a baby. I find medicine trauma an amazing field - diverse and changing. The job is about doing good things for people and it's rewarding.
The big reward is making a difference in somebody's life, whether it's holding a hand or saving their life in a motor accident or a cardiac arrest. You have looked after someone who has called you in their greatest time of need. As an ambulance driver and paramedic there is only so much you can do. As an advanced paramedic you have a greater range of drugs, skills and procedures that enable you to provide a higher level of skill.
Its important that people realise this is becoming a more highly skilled profession. There is a public perception, especially amongst the older generation, that we are just drivers.
The course was really good because it gave you the technical sides of things you need to know but you can't beat the time on the road you need to get the experience to use those skills. A really good part of the course last year was being mentored by an advanced paramedic from the ambulance service for three months who walks you through it to get you used to the functions and what the job entailed. I was taught by a really good chap and I learnt a lot. I work four 12-hour shifts responding to 111 emergency calls we get despatched. The biggest thing I enjoy is the diversity. No day is ever the same. When you go to work, you have no idea what the day is going to bring.
I think for everybody that does this job a special moment is the first person that you can truly put your hand on your heart and say, 'Myself and my team, we saved that person's life.'
It's not all lights and sirens and death and destruction. A lot of the work we do is run-of-the-mill medical matters; people who cant get to the doctor or people who have a fall.
THE EMPLOYER
Steve Walker
Watch manager for St John ambulance operations
Ben had previous experience in an emergency field, when he was an army medic. His role within the army dealt with people in stress and high-pressured situations, and that is the type of experience that we look for in people we employ. There are a number of ways that people can achieve this. They can work in other emergency-related fields - such as fire or police, military coastguard - or they could be a previous St John volunteer.
The main motive for people who work for St John is their desire to help people. With the training that they can achieve, they have the ability to have a positive outcome on a person's emergency and their health and condition.
We train people from an entry-level course through various stages to paramedic and advanced paramedic. Ben entered at an early stage with basic minimum qualifications and we have seen him grow as he has acquired more skills and more competencies.
You become of age within the service when you can competently deal with anything that the world can throw at you and have a better outcome out of it.
