Paramedic or A&E doctor? dealing with deaths

I don't know whether I want to be a Paramedic or a&e doctor. I feel like being a Paramedic you would have to deal with deaths more first hand, would you have to deal with their bodies afterwards and that? However I work for St John Ambulance and I really enjoy going out and dealing with patients.
An A&E doctor sounds more challenging but I think it sounds more positive, and you don't get as involved when people pass away.
What do you think? To be honest I don't really know much about deaths in the medical profession....What do you think and which sounds like a more enjoyable job?

Reply 1

Juno

20

Original post by Cobb.s

I don't know whether I want to be a Paramedic or a&e doctor. I feel like being a Paramedic you would have to deal with deaths more first hand, would you have to deal with their bodies afterwards and that? However I work for St John Ambulance and I really enjoy going out and dealing with patients.
An A&E doctor sounds more challenging but I think it sounds more positive, and you don't get as involved when people pass away.
What do you think? To be honest I don't really know much about deaths in the medical profession....What do you think and which sounds like a more enjoyable job?

As a paramedic, if there's any hope of resuscitation the patient would not be pronounced dead at the scene. So if, for example, CPR has already been started it will be continued to hospital. So in that case, the paramedic wouldn't be dealing with a dead patient, they'd be dealing with a probably dead but not yet confirmed patient.
However, if the patient does have obvious signs of incompatibility to life they can declare the patient dead. The policy on what happens next does vary with the different ambulance trusts so anything anybody tells you here will not definitely apply to you (if you chose to become a paramedic).

All ambulance trusts will provide some kind of counselling services. The exact nature will again vary, but if a paramedic did have a distressing call they would be supported. There's also no expectation over what should be classed as "distressing" as this will depend on your circumstances - if you know someone who died in a certain way then you might find that more upsetting than someone else who has had different previous experiences.

Reply 2

Helenia

20

Original post by Cobb.s

I don't know whether I want to be a Paramedic or a&e doctor. I feel like being a Paramedic you would have to deal with deaths more first hand, would you have to deal with their bodies afterwards and that? However I work for St John Ambulance and I really enjoy going out and dealing with patients.
An A&E doctor sounds more challenging but I think it sounds more positive, and you don't get as involved when people pass away.
What do you think? To be honest I don't really know much about deaths in the medical profession....What do you think and which sounds like a more enjoyable job?

In what way is leading a resuscitation team, deciding when to stop, talking to bereaved family and contacting the coroners "not as involved?"

Both jobs (and many other in-hospital specialties) have to deal with deaths. That shouldn't be your deciding factor.

Reply 3

Happy_Holidays

15

If you want to be one rather than the other as you'll be 'less likely to deal with death' I would say don't consider either. I'm a paramedic but work in a hospital and I'm part of the crash team and can say A&E doctors deal with death on a regular basis.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Paramedic or A&E doctor? dealing with deaths

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you