Daniel Carvill, now into his fourth year of medical studies at the University of Southampton, has spent his past three summers working with St John.

In July and August of this year, he worked as an Ambulance Care Assistant with the Patient Transport Service, and also observed our emergency crews to gain further experience.

Daniel is back in the UK studying free hospital medicine at Barts and The London Medical School. This includes a year’s training course with London’s Air Ambulance and the Institute of Pre-Hospital Care.

St John has been happy to help Daniel gain front-line experience, and his blog based on his time working with us is here…

This summer I was lucky enough to continue my work with the St John Emergency Ambulance Service in Guernsey. I’m now in my fourth year of medical school, and was fortunate enough to be accepted onto a year’s training course with London’s Air Ambulance and the Institute of Pre-Hospital Care. My acceptance onto this course was heavily supported by the skills and experience I have gained whilst working at the service.

The opportunities I’ve been given whilst working with St John in Guernsey for the past three summers have been invaluable. I’ve worked on the Non-Emergency side of the service (the Patient Transport Service or PTS), which has given me the chance to continue to develop my bedside manner. Simply being able to talk to the patients is every bit as important as the medical knowledge that comes with being a doctor.

Most medical students will tell you how important it is to grab any opportunity to get extra patient interaction. It’s something that we need (and want) to clock-up the hours on, before we hit the wards. So, alongside PTS work, I was able to join the front line operational emergency crews on their call outs; a chance I took at every opportunity!

I was very lucky to be able to shadow the crews as they tackled a range of problems from trauma through to cardiac arrests.  Not only would I be able to watch a team seamlessly treat a patient, but when the crew would reflect on their case, they would quiz and challenge me with questions, to help develop my understanding on the reasons for treatment.

I’m very thankful to the entire team and am thoroughly looking forward to working with them again this Christmas!