r/Paramedics • u/EarRepresentative444 • 1d ago
UK Are paramedics cliquey like nurses?
I'm interested in becoming a paramedic. I have loved the years I've spent as a HCA and I have tried going into nursing in the past however I have noticed that if the team you are working under don't like you, they will look for reasons to fail you if not making your placement as difficult as they can.
I love helping people and making a difference. I am able to remain calm and navigate difficult situations. I fear that I will expereicne a near identical work culture if I go into paramedic science. Is this something other students have experienced and how did you deal with it?
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u/ThunderHumper21 1d ago
You will have people talking bad behind your back, but some of those same people joined this profession right out of high school and never matured with life experience.
That being said, EMS is not nearly as cliquey as nursing. You have politics and disagreements and A LOT of egos, but never to the extent that nursing is. I married an RN. I hear about it all the time.
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u/ZantyRC 1d ago
A shift hates B shift and C shift hates A shift. B shift is the middle child. It’s only natural!
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u/tool_stone ACP 1d ago
We have a D.... Everyone avoids picking up OT on D so they are always short staffed and B hates getting back after days off and D is coming off nights. Nothing is restocked and trucks are dirty. Stupid D crew.
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u/Negative_Way8350 EMT-P 1d ago
It's precisely why I prefer EMS over nursing.
If you show up and do your job, that's the end of it. Even the captains that I don't love are at least civil and don't sabotage me. That is the polar opposite of my experience in nursing.
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u/OddAd9915 Paramedic (UK) 1d ago
It depends. Before the larger stations there were some, typically the more remote stations, that could be. But now with 200-300 staff per station it's much less of an issue.
Typically most ambulance staff are quite happy to talk to pretty much anyone. Out of hospital has a very different vibe to in hospital from what I have seen, the out of/pre hospital environment is very much a "all pull together" type environment. The hierarchy is very flattened.
You will still find some cliques forming in some areas but it's much less common than hospital.
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u/12345678dude 1d ago
Harder to be cliquey when you never see each other because you’re always on calls
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u/themakerofthings4 1d ago
All depends on your service. In mine, yes, very much so. No is going to outright be a dick about it, but divides exist.
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u/SuperglotticMan 1d ago
I’ve found firefighters to be just as cliquey if not worse than Nurses. I say that as a fire medic who worked in the ER for years before switching to fire.
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u/Bronzeshadow 1d ago
We're nowhere near that bad on average, but some places can be very Highschool.
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u/ImJustRoscoe 1d ago
It all depends. Ive struggled with my autistic traits making it difficult to find my nitch often, and get a fair FULL chance at some places. So long as you're neurotypical, not creepy/pervy pushing up on coworkers, and know your shit to do a good job.... you will be fine.
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u/Dangerous_Strength77 1d ago
This is very accurate. To be fair it's always harder for us. But, EMS seems to make it more so.
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u/EarRepresentative444 1d ago
I'm only just recently realising that I'm autistic, I'm still awaiting an assessment but I think that, because I didn't know I was autistic when I was doing my nurse training I think it meant that a lot of people thought I was uninterested in what they were saying or not interested in my work because I struggled with things like eye contact, not interrupting people in conversation, the tone and intonation of my voice. But, being aware of these traits now has given me more autonomy in the way others perceive me and the way that I express myself. Thank you for your help
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u/ImJustRoscoe 1d ago
I was formally diagnosed at 47.... it explained soooooooo much
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u/EarRepresentative444 1d ago
I'm 27 and it does make a lot of sense within my circumstance. However, I wasn't disruptive as a kid I was more just weird so I never got diagnosed and like sure I got passing comments or it was at least implied but it was more within a derogatory sense than an attempt at trying to help me. It wasn't until my partner compared certain behaviours with autistic traits and compared to how her family saw that I realised.
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u/Mah_Buddy_Keith 1d ago
Liar. Every emergency medical worker I met is autistic, ADHD, bipolar, dyslexic, or some combination of them.
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u/_Moderatelyhuman EMT-P 20h ago
In my area it’s exactly the opposite. I firmly believe that the vast majority of us are ADHD and several of us are autistic in some way or other. Agree with the creep part though. We do our best to get rid of those as quick as possible. But nah, we’re all weird.
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u/crolodot former medic 1d ago
There always seemed to be drama and politics among the admin and supervisory side. Folks on the street might get roped in (or insert themselves), but to me, the glory of the street is, you are your own crew.
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u/Difficult_Flight8404 1d ago
I agree that the "eat your young" mindset is dying in ems. I was treated that way. Now instead of belittling new emts who called for a medic, and we aren't really needed, we take the time to educate them properly and let them know that it's okay to call for a medic if you truly feel you need one. Worst case scenario for them is we just downgrade back to them bls. They learned something, the pt had ALS eyes on them, medics arent stuck with a BS call and everyone is happy in the end. The amount of pts who must have had worse outcomes because we wouldn't even call for a medic because we knew they would just be mad, belittling and an overall asshole. With a big chance of them downgrading the obvious ALS call back to us. Waste of time. Now we are the change we wanted to see.
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u/NotReallySurelySure 19h ago
Some places yes, others no. Due my role in the profession, I have worked out of 20 stations in 6 counties over the last 5 years and there is a massive variance.
I have been to work in stations where I am a stranger who is welcomed like an old friend, finishing the shift down the pub and even being invited back to colleagues houses for dinner with their families.
Inversely, I have worked at stations where people have not even bothered to learn my name after multiple shifts because I'm not one of "their crowd".
Anecdotally, by talking with friends in the nursing profession, I've been told that it's exactly the same in nursing. I have also noticed the same kind of experiences previously when I was an IT contractor before my career change into the medical field.
I believe they're a good and difficult people in every profession and the clique-iness (if that's even a word) seems to be relative to the number of difficult people at any given station.
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u/Kind_Pomegranate_171 1d ago
Hmmm nah I’ve work many garages , a lot personalities. But I’ve never had problems getting along with people , even the weirdest people fit in. Nursing tho , seems like ur in or out lol
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u/BeardedHeathen1991 Paramedic 1d ago
I wouldn’t say cliquey and making it harder for you or failing you because you don’t fit in. I would call us more of a cult. Especially with the younger providers. The whole “eat your young” culture is dying in EMS in my experience as these older people leave the profession. So please be my guest. Join our cult.
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u/Fit_Conversation5270 1d ago
You’ll find shifts or whole stations turn in to their own ‘flavor’…but not truly a clique. This is probably variant by agency or company too. But at least here, each shift has kind of adopted its own attitude and feel. On mine we joke and have fun a lot, we also kind of get handed the most project work because we’re the most reliable for it, and we’re definitely proud of that. But people who come here are welcome as long as they do the work and aren’t assholes or whiners. You have to try and be shitty to be ostracized, unlike some hospital environments where someone might just decide to not like you.
I can train almost anyone to do well on a scene; I can’t train you to not be lazy or to be a tolerable roommate for two straight days.
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u/_Moderatelyhuman EMT-P 20h ago
My department is fire based but we have some single role paramedics. The way our command staff has separated the single roles makes things a little cliquey but the majority of the department has learned to accept us and generally welcome us into their stations at any time. Plenty of them are happy to see us because it means they don’t have to ride the units 😂 From what I’ve seen in my 4 years in EMS there’s 4 types of people: mean girls, guys who want to screw their coworkers, the incompetent, and everyone else. Don’t end up in one for the first three and you’ll be just fine. And if you’re nice and actually good at your job the nurses will learn to like you too.
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u/keep_it_simple-9 EMT-P 1d ago
Cliquey, no. Sadistic or warped? Yeah definitely. But in a good way.
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u/Hail-Seitan- Paramedic 20h ago
Having worked in both, I would say yes. It obviously depends where you are; some stations are very open and friendly, but in my experience paramedics can be just as cliquey, bitchy and toxic as nurses. It’s not the job, it’s just what people are like in all walks of life. I don’t see it as a significant problem at my workplace though, just accept that not everyone gets along.
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u/gemogo97 16h ago
You’ll find bigger stations yes they will be especially if they all work on the same rota pattern. That’s only because they see each other all the time so naturally they’re more comfortable around each other. But the smaller ones can be more of a family feel but honestly once you’re on a shift pattern you melt right in.
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u/Sup_gurl 7h ago
I’ve worked for both and I can’t quite say I agree. Small agencies/stations come with the family dynamic, but that also comes with all the personal dysfunction of a family. Factions, beefs, disagreements, grudges, entanglements, gossip, power dynamics, you name it. Even people arguing heatedly and getting upset during the “family dinners” because they’re comfortable enough to do so. Large agencies on the other hand are more of a revolving door of people coming, going, and filling in, people are coworker-level friendly but more impersonal, there tends to be less personal relationship dynamics, and more of a professional workplace dynamic. The traditional “family” thing has its benefits but it can also get weirdly creepy and personal in a negative way. I much rather prefer a professional workplace where I’m not forced to be personally intertwined with my coworkers and can just run my calls and do my job, form relationships with who I want to, eat what I want to when I want to, and not participate in obligatory family dynamics. I get that some people use this as their sense of belonging and purpose, but to me I’m just at work, don’t obligate me into relationship dynamics with my coworkers.
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u/Patient_Yoghurt4565 16h ago
Oh god as someone looking to go into nursing I’m afraid for my future if nursing is more cliquey than ems. How bad could it be then if it outweighs ems in terms of cliqueyness
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u/thicc_medic FP-C 12h ago
Really depends on where you are, but I’d say generally no. From my experience, you’re stuck on a truck with someone for 12-24 hours if not more depending on where you are. Sometimes, you gotta show up, do your job, and put some of your personal shit aside and focus on doing what’s best for the pt. If you and your partner have an issue, you sit down and talk it out. Most of the time it resolves things. Usually as long as you’re respectful and aren’t a huge dickhead to your partner, team, and your squad, you can get along with most folks.
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u/VXMerlinXV 1d ago
If the reason you haven’t been successful in nursing is your professional interactions and relationships, street paramedicine is worse. You could theoretically get your NRP and contact someplace, but that’s hit or miss.
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u/NopeRope13 Paramedic 1d ago
No…but fuck are we weird. Not in a bad way though.