hi everybody my name is Richard McMunn
from the paramedic training website
become a paramedic code at UK and in
this training video I'm going to teach
you how to pass your paramedic science
degree interview and in particular I
will give you a number of sample
questions and also suggested answers to
help you succeed now before I get into
those a very very warm welcome to this
tutorial as I say my name is Richard
McMunn I've been helping people like you
for over 20 years now to successfully
pass their interviews and in this video
we're going to focus primarily on the
paramedic science degree interview and
like asal give you suggested answers to
the questions that I'm going to to
provide you with during this tutorial as
always please do make sure you subscribe
by clicking the red button below the
video and if you do like the tutorial I
would extremely be appreciated if you
gave the video a like if you hit the
thumbs up button that always motivates
me to do more if you have any questions
whatsoever about your paramedic science
degree or becoming a paramedic in
general please put them in the comments
section below the video and I will be
happy to assist you
I spent over 16 years in the emergency
services myself and I have a good
understanding of the selection process
and what it takes to pass okay let's get
straight into your paramedic sized
degree tutorial question number one why
do you want to become a paramedic now
even though you are being interviewed to
attend the paramedic science degree they
will want to know why you want to become
a paramedic now there are a couple of
tips that I'm going to give you and
before I give you the sample response
here they are so make sure in your
answer you talked about the positive
aspects of the paramedic role and these
include the chance that you have to make
a difference the ability to work with a
highly professional team of people and
that's one of the best things that I
found about working in the emergency
services and everybody you work with
within the team is highly professional
and that gives you a great sense of job
satisfaction you will also have the
opportunity to work within a diverse
workforce but also a diverse community
as you know that can be
is diverse in nature and that is only a
positive thing for you to work within
and you also have the opportunity as a
paramedic to continually learn new
skills and of course obtain really good
qualifications and you are also working
essentially in a job where no two days
are the same
you know so you have the variety of the
job as well so these are things to
consider when you are answering the
question why do you want to become a
paramedic know you will obviously have
your own and you know the reasons for
wanting to become a paramedic but here
is my answer to this question I feel
that I have the necessary qualities that
are required in order to become a
paramedic now this is due to my previous
roles as a first aider in the workplace
and also as a plumber in my local
community I also have first-hand
experience of working in the diverse
team that is required to follow rules
and procedures now through hands-on
experience reading books and talking to
operational frontline staff I know that
there is a high level of job
satisfaction when working as a paramedic
I like helping to make a difference to
the people in the community at a time of
their need and I enjoy interacting with
the public and working in a customer
service based role I am enthusiastic I
am punctual well disciplined and always
strive for personal development and will
enjoy undertaking a diverse role in a
well disciplined and uniformed service
working closely with other emergency
services and support agencies like the
st. Johns Ambulance now that response
talks about working in the community it
gives them some skills and attributes
that I have which I believe would help
me in the role now with respect of
talking to operational frontline staff
if you get the opportunity and I would
make contact with your local ambulance
station and see whether you can go along
and talk to them now obviously they are
extremely busy but if you know you don't
ask you don't get so I would go along
and speak to them to see whether they
can talk to you about the job what's
involved what's it like the pros and
cons of the job you know and also the
skills and attributes required because
then when you are answering that
question you can say I visited my local
ambulance station I spoke to the
paramedics and the technicians there
and this is what they told me and you
can use that in your response next
question of your paramedic sized degree
interview why have you chosen this
university in particular now you are
pretty much guaranteed to get asked this
question now universities obviously want
the best students okay they want you to
pass now you have to demonstrate your
answer that you are a model student and
that you are determined to work hard and
that you won't let them down or that you
will pass the the course to get the
qualification how is a tip make sure you
go along to the University Open date if
there is one so you can then tell them
as much as possible about the University
now this demonstrates you genuinely want
to attend their University and it's not
just because you want to become a
paramedic okay because they want you to
pass but at the same time you you know
you have to have considered carefully
why you want to study at their
University here is my sample suggested
answer to the interview question why
have you chosen this university I've
considered carefully the University I
want to study in order to become a
paramedic I am at the stage in my life
where I want to get things right first
of all and it is vital I've the right
environment in which to learn and study
now having attended the University Open
Day I was impressed with the Welcome I
received the lecturers their facilities
and above all the environment in which I
would get to learn study and develop
I've chosen this University because I
feel the standard of tuition I will
receive will be outstanding and that
means I will have every chance of
succeeding and more importantly
realizing my dream of becoming a
paramedic so that's a well thought and
considered response to that interview
question for your paramedic sized degree
interview let's have a look at the next
question how do you think you would
react to incidents as a paramedic so if
there is a paramedic there as part of
the science degree interview he or she
is likely to ask you this question
because you have to think carefully
about this I can remember attending many
road traffic collisions some quite
distressing situations in my time
working in the emergency services and
you have to have a certain mindset and
be prepared for these things okay now it
is important that paramedic to remain
calm at all times whilst attending
emergency incidents if they are calm
then as you understand they are in
control
and they will therefore be able to
perform their duties competently and
professionally
now obviously being able to remain calm
comes with practice and experience but
you have to think about this remember
you turn up an incident as a paramedic
and there's people running around and
they need your help you are the one who
has to be in control now whilst
attending incidents such as road traffic
collisions paramedics and other members
of the emergency services usually carry
out what's called a dynamic risk
assessment now in basic terms the DRA
the dynamic risk assessment is the
management of risk through a continuous
process of identifying the hazards
assessing the risk taking action to
eliminate or reduce them and then
monitoring and reviewing all the time in
this rapidly changing environment now it
is the paramedics responsibility to
ensure that they and other people at the
scene are safe so there's a lot on your
plate when you turn up to incidents so
patient care is obviously really
important you have to assess the needs
of each of the casualties and provide
the appropriate level of care and that's
your job as a paramedic so I'm gonna
give you a sample response in a second
but those three things were like food
for thought when you are responding to
the question how do you think you would
react to instance as a paramedic so if
you understand what the role is involved
will tell you what the role involves and
the kind of work they do then it's
easier to answer that question so here
we go first and foremost I would remain
calm at all times and remember to follow
my training and operational procedures
I would always conduct a risk assessment
to assess the situation and safety of
myself my colleagues the patient and the
public would always be a priority at any
instant I attended I feel confident that
by following my training learning the
operational procedures and working with
other stakeholders such as Police Fire
Service in the control center I would be
able to handle any incident competently
and professionally so that answer
demonstrates that you've really thought
about it you know because you have to
think about your mindset is important
but also being safe the risk assessment
and following your training and your
operational procedures those are really
important to a next question give an
example of where you've got to deal with
someone in a potentially conflict
situation ie whether they're violent
drunk or angry how did you attempt to
take control of the situation so as you
know
paramedics are required to turn up at
incidents where their there there could
be potential conflict so it's important
they don't put themselves in danger
because their safety is absolute
priority but let's say you were at that
situation and you have to give an
example of when you've dealt with
something like that in your own personal
life or or at work so when responding to
this kind of situation sorry this kind
of question it's a behavioral one what
have you done in the past and you would
use situation task action result so you
would structure your response by
explaining what the situation was what
the task was that needed to be done then
what action you took and then the result
so this kind of answer needs to be in
depth and you'll see that the answer
that follows is quite lengthy but I'm
given a specific situation where I was
in a situation and I had to deal with it
okay so here we go so just to recap the
question is give an example of where you
have to deal with someone in a
potentially conflict situation either
they were violent drunk or angry and the
key thing is to remain calm really
really important here we go whilst I was
working in my current role as a customer
service manager I was faced with an
angry customer they were dissatisfied
with the level of service they had
received from the shop now the customer
had purchased a pair of shoes for his
daughter's birthday but when she went to
open them on her birthday she found they
were both of a different size now the
shop assistant had made a genuine
mistake and they should have checked the
shoe sizes before selling them to the
gentleman
now unfortunately when I tried to
apologize for the error and offer a full
refund along with a new pair of shoes he
refused to calm down and he continued to
act in an aggressive manner now I knew
that it was important for me to remain
calm and not respond to this aggression
if I had responded in a similar
aggressive manner I would have been
making a situation worse so I decided to
remain calm and talk to him in a mild
mannered voice asking him politely not
to shout now unfortunately he didn't
calm down instead he began to swear and
threaten me suggesting the member of
staff week made a mistake should be
sacked and if I didn't sack them I would
be in trouble and then decided at that
point to give him a warning that if he
didn't calm down I would then call the
place he didn't listen to me so I walked
away from the confrontational situation
and I telephone the police now as soon
as he saw me called the police he left a
shop although we had left a shop I still
asked for the police to attend because
of the threatening behavior so I believe
it's important to provide an excellent
level of service to our customers but
that does not mean you should accept any
form of verbal or physical abuse I would
never respond aggressively to sup to any
situation instead I will always follow
my training and inform the relevant
authorities so that is quite an extreme
kind of scenario and but you are showing
that your remaining calm and you're
prepared to walk away from a situation
now as a paramedic you you know you
don't have that luxury if you like of
walking away from every situation and
you would have to use you'd have to be
firm you'd have to use open
communication styles and remain calm at
all times you know yes you never put
yourself or anyone in danger you don't
you know you have to wait for the you
know even the clearance of the police to
go in there if it's a really dangerous
situation but you have to carry out that
all-important dynamic risk assessment to
see whether the situation is safe and if
somebody's becoming aggressive then you
know you have to utilize effective
communication skills and an open body
technique to calm them down okay because
it's in their interest that you are able
to treat them so when you respond to
that question make sure you situation
task action result and it's a
comprehensive answer next question why
do you think you can successfully pass
the paramedic sighs degree course so
mention the following four key areas in
your answer to this question think about
any historical successes you ever had or
any achievements in your life because
you are there to learn and study so say
because I'm there to learn to study I'm
not here to party or have a good time
I'm here for one reason one reason only
to learn study in the past
next thing you believe you understand
how much work is involved and you have a
plan for making sure you study well and
you pass the course and also because you
have a deep passion for becoming a
paramedic and you know this will only
happen if you work hard so here's my
sample response to the interview
question why do you think you can
successfully pass the paramedic sighs
degree course here we go I believe I can
pass for four main reasons firstly I
have a track record of achievement and
previously studied hard for my GCSEs and
a-levels secondly this university is one
that will give me every opportunity to
succeed
thirdly I would be here solely to work
hard and study and finally I've wanted
to become a paramedic for a long time
and there is no way I'm gonna let this
opportunity sail by I will work
extremely hard for the duration of the
course and make sure I put in the effort
required in order to pass okay so if you
want more paramedic sized degree
interview questions and answers I have a
couple of resources available to you so
I've put three links in the description
below this video and first of all you
can go to my website become a paramedic
code at UK and you can find out more
about the role and the next thing is I
have another website which is called how
to become calm and I have a guide which
covers all of the paramedic interview
questions and answers so if you go to
that click that link there it will take
you through and you can get a copy of
that that guide it's great value the
print version in 1997 and that's 1797
for download or if you want some free
training if you go to my website pass my
interview comm you can go in here and
you can get access free 30-days access
to my online interview training courses
over 550 for positive reviews on
Trustpilot
and so those links are in the
description below the video like I say
it's past my interview com and if you
have any questions whatsoever about your
paramedic science degree or becoming a
paramedic in general please stick them
in the comment section below the video
don't forget like I said to subscribe I
hope you've enjoyed those sample
responses if you have please give the
video a thumbs up I very much appreciate
that and I wish you all the very best in
your pursuit to becoming a paramedic
thank you very much