Pre-Hospital Care Podcast

In this episode of the pre-hospital care podcast, we welcome Mark Faulkner, an advanced paramedic practitioner, to unpack the often daunting legal world that paramedics are exposed to.

You never know when that "nightmare job" or patient is going to appear and put you to the test. As clinicians, we should be always attempting to push our push our skills closer to perfection. In this episode, Ben Clarke shares his insights into deliberate practice, in-time learning, and meta-cognition. 

In part 1 of our conversation with Ben Clarke (Assistant medical director of London Ambulance Service), we talk about leadership in pre-hospital care. What's more important - a good leader, or a good team willing to follow? Can you teach leadership or does it only come from experience? Can you be born a leader? How do you empower different types of staff on-scene? Join us as we explore the nature of leadership in pre-hospital care. 

Have you ever been working, and all sense of time and self melts away, and you find yourself in perfect sync with what you’re doing? There’s a word for that. It’s called the Flow State.  In part 2 of our conversation with Dr Esther Murray, we  explore Flow and how to put yourself in hyper productive mindsets more often using specific techniques anyone can implement in their work. Dr Murray is a Senior Lecturer in Health Psychology and an expert in the subject of moral injury and self-care. 

In part 1 (of 2) of our conversation with Dr Esther Murray, we explore the concept of a moral injury, and how paramedics can spot warning signs that they've suffered one, as well as tips on how to restore a good mental state. Dr Murray is a Senior Lecturer in Health Psychology and an expert in the subject of moral injury and self-care. 

In this episode, we welcome Victoria Lebrec, who fights for road safety in London after losing her leg being run over by a skip lorry in 2014. Others have lost limbs on the same section of road since her incident, and it is only one of many places in London where accident rates are disproportionately high. Victoria’s work is focused on raising awareness for the need for improvements for cyclist safety across London. 

Meet Dan Richards, an ex-patient of Eoin’s who lost his right arm and shoulder in a traffic accident 9 years ago. His story of recovery and his imperturbable attitude is inspiring. He summed it up perfectly with, “…whatever you want in life, you must work hard for it. Even if you don’t get it, you can still hold your head high and say, ‘Well, at least I did not give up,’ and while there is no shame in giving up, there is no success in it either.”

Update:  Due to a technical hiccup, this episode was cut short by about 15 minutes during the first day of it's being published. It's now updated, so If you listened to it then and would like to catch the rest of this conversation, you can re-download the episode now. Thank you for your patience.  We're back with the second season of the Pre-Hospital Care podcast! Our first episode is a fascinating conversation with a cardiac arrest survivor and long friend of Eoin's, Zoe Hitchcock. They met when Zoe suffered a heart attack and Eoin happened to be sent out to treat her. Tune in for a fascinating and unique perspective on pre-hospital healthcare from the patient's perspective.

We end the first season of The Pre-Hospital Care Podcast by finishing up Eoin and Rich’s conversation with Dan Davis as they talk about dealing with the emotional trauma that is, unfortunately, part and parcel of pre-hospital care.  Thanks so much for being a part of this journey into healthcare podcasting. Keep an eye out for season 2! It’ll be out before you know it. 

The paramedic field is much more fast-tracked than it once was. It's such an established path that many new paramedics have come straight from the classroom, and are being thrown into situations that a professional of any seniority would find it difficult to handle.  Perhaps it's no surprise, then, that the mental health of people working in emergency healthcare is getting worse over time. What can be done?