Well after all the hard work and study....

I have as you know been away for the last 6 week (1080hrs classroom time) studying towards gaining my Paramedic qualification.

It has been an interesting time and there has been many highs and lows along the way, may late nights of studying and early mornings of not knowing anything from the night before.

Well it has finally come to a close, after 5 weeks of preperation and study, practice and sweating late into the night over the books I sat my final Module I (Paediatrics & Obstetric) assessments, which also included some stuff from Module G (Cardiology & Airway) and stuff from module H (Trauma).

Monday of week 6 starts with some mock assessments, written and multi choice and then a practical skill station, the Tuesday is much the same, early finish to facilitate for some last minute panic study and then comes Wednesday.....

0845hrs - "You have 30 minutes to complete your Paediatric multi choice paper...good luck"

0920hrs - "You now have 30 minutes to complete your Obstetric multi choice paper....once again good luck!"

1030hrs - You now have 2hrs to complete your written papers covering Paeds, Obs, Trauma and a General question, please ensure you answer all the questions or you will automatically fail!...Good luck"

1330hrs, after lunch it's back to the practical mocks to ensure you are up to speed on skills for the final assessment on Thursday.

Thursday morning seeing us all in the restaurant of the college for breakfast you would think we were all "Dead men walking" we sit quietly, not saying much, staring down at our food, not hungry but knowing that we should all eat something.

0900hrs and so it begins, I am first for my Paediatric skill station, which comprises of two cases my first is a lethargic, floppy 6 mth old who is "Unwell" not feeding and turns out to be a meningicoccal septicaemia baby who needs airway management, supported ventilations, IV access and Benzylpenicillin before the crew arrive to back me up.... oh yeah I forgot to say I was meant to be single crewed!

My second patient was a 5 yr old in Cardiac Arrest, who as per protocol required airway management, breathing and circulatory support along with IV access, blood glucose checks, capiliary refill and fluids and rapid transport to hospital, however I was still single crewed and had to wait on the responding ambulance..... oh the joys of assessments!

I was last to go in for my Obstetric assessment and this was once again, two patient skill stations, the first was a 35yr old who was in labour with her 5th child and had a history of difficult and fast labours!!! The baby in this was a breech birth, the baby then required to be resuscitated and my second scenario was a 17 yrs old with a cord prolapse. Both the skill station's went well, but no one felt totally confident in their and I was definately one who felt least confident.

Friday Morning was the day which we found out which one had passed, but since we had a small group the course director decided to tell us all on the Thursday afternoon our fate!!!

We well all summonded into the class after coffee break and one by one our names were read out..... Scotsmedicman PASS...... What?!?!?!? I passed I ACTUALLY PASSED YEAH!!!!!!!!!!


So there we go, I am now licensed to kill... erm save in some many more ways!!! 007 watch out!