The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Paramedic. Tammie Bullard

amongst the friends and family of every bystander at the scene. Furthermore, nowadays, it is safe to assume that every single public interaction may be recorded on a smartphone. Whilst this is annoying, frustrating and can feel invasive, it’s a realistic reminder for each of us to align our practice with the reasons that inspired us to become a paramedic in the first place.

      At the end of the day, the media gives the public, what the public want to see. They have a service to provide and naturally must feed demand. If we don’t destroy our own public perception, we won’t find many members of the public ready to jump aboard a negative media bandwagon. Instead, an automatic jump to our defense may continue to remain the norm.

      Why It Matters

      Keeping the general public on our side is vital to every one of us for the duration of our careers. We’re generally renowned for being trusted. In some countries, the people we care for have even voted us the most trusted profession, time and time again, but it’s important for us to remember that we actually rely on the same level of care in return.

      If the subject of working conditions and fatigue for paramedics comes up in the media…we don’t want the general public to dismiss our needs because we’ve convinced them that we're lazy and have an easy time of it. We need them to understand and empathise in order to care enough to vote in our favour.

      When we head into a coffee shop or lunch bar to grab something on the run between calls, we appreciate, and often desperately hope that some kind stranger in the queue offers to let us jump ahead, so that we don’t miss that brief opportunity to find sustenance on the run.

      When it’s dark and wet on the roads, our lives literally depend on every driver slowing down and giving us a wide berth, keeping us safe, and setting a good example to other, less considerate, road users passing by. Why would they bother if we give them no reason to care?

      Every single time we walk through the door of a patient’s home, we hope that the occupants have no intention of causing us harm. We absolutely must, therefore, uphold the great trust that the majority of patients and bystanders bestow upon us. If we don’t, it would be dangerously arrogant to continue to expect such warm welcome across every threshold.

      On those awful occasions where we find ourselves under threat or facing direct violence, we depend on the public outrage that comes as a result of being trusted and respected in our increasingly dangerous role. Whether it’s in the form of a bystander stepping in to face that danger with us at their own risk, or whether it’s advocating across social media platforms to drive judicial change in favour of our safety. We depend on society as a whole to continue to care about paramedics, just as much as they expect us to care about them.

      At different points in our careers, we hear talk of how public perception has changed. There are conversations about why the media portray paramedics poorly. We may chat with colleagues regarding our frustration around negative attitudes towards us increasing. What we must ask is why there seems to be a shift in attitude.

      Do we notice ourselves, and our colleagues, behaving in ways that may surprise or shock the general public? Is our profession demanding respect, but forgetting that it’s a mutual two way street? Could it be possible that attention grabbing apparel, declaring our paramedic, superhero style status on days off, when we’re out of uniform, may suggest a sense of elitism? Are we part of the growing wave of self-glorification on social media, inviting inevitable public scorn for our arrogance?

      Realistically, without downplaying the great work we do, we are paid to provide a service. If we begin to view ourselves as heroes, we risk expecting the rest of the world to treat us as such, and that may lead to bad, or ugly, entitled behaviour that knocks us off our pedestal at great speed.

      In simple terms, people talk! If we damage one person’s perception of our profession today, it’s likely to become an interesting discussion when they arrive at work or home. The people that they then talk to are disappointed and possibly surprised, so they later talk to their own colleagues or family too.

      By the time that one person we shocked, upset or disappointed moves on to a different topic, the ripple effect of that one event may have destroyed our profession’s reputation entirely, or at least put it into question. This answer to such a question may be based upon the attitude of the next paramedic they encounter. How will our behaviour shape their opinion for the future?

      Putting Yourself In The Picture

       Remember when you decided to apply for your first paramedic role? Do you recall desperately hoping that you would be selected from amongst the ridiculously high number of applicants you were competing against?

       What was your perception of paramedics at that early stage? No doubt you were full of admiration and respect for the profession, and hopefully still are.

       With this in mind, it’s up to us as individuals to uphold and maintain that reputation every single day, without fail, for the benefit of our industry, our colleagues and ourselves.

Chapter 2