Bright is a paramedic trained in Nigeria. He qualified in 2016 and is currently working in the UK as a paramedic. He had five years’ experience in Nigeria as a paramedic working in the in hospital, pre-hospital and also the academic setting; including working in the private sectors and government sectors. Before coming to the UK on his global placement, he explored different countries (for example Canada, Australia, New Zealand), before choosing the UK which was easier in terms of registration and working visa challenges. He undertook registration with the HCPC, the regulatory body for UK paramedics and was successful in that. Two particular Ambulance Services caught his attention through the HEE program. He is currently mid-career level.
The rationale for his commitment, “travel is learning, learning is travel”, underpins his placement, along with his desire to increase his scope of practice as a paramedic. The UK system appealed to him, in terms of career progression as a paramedic.
“You can do a CCP program which is a critical care paramedic program. You can do a paramedic practitioner program and you can specialize in any part that you deem fit for your own career. I like that kind of flexibility, and that was why I decided to venture into this space.“
He felt well prepared for his placement in terms of his prior experience in the field, academic, and other sectors. Population differences are visible difference between Nigeria and the UK looking at life expectancy.
“When I was in Nigeria, I dealt more with the younger population compared to the UK with older population. The life expectancy for both countries is a contributing factor to the difference in terms of their medical needs and what is expected of me as a professional attending to them. In Nigeria we do more on the trauma side, for example road traffic accident, gunshots injury and violence. In the UK we do more medical cases. The older we get with age the most likely our overall health declines.“
He intends to stay at least for 10 years in the UK, and encourages colleagues in Nigeria to come to the UK to experience global placements, and his UK colleagues to visit and work in Africa. There are some differences in practice, for example some skills he cannot practice in the UK, however, the majority of the skills he can practice (for example venous access, patient assessment, ECG placement, ECG interpretation etc).
“The only difference in terms of practice is regarding the pathway, which if you are going to a new place, you have to know where to take a set of patients that has a particular condition to…“
Successful placement in his view requires planning, commitment, energy, courage, determination and a willingness to learn. He has experienced some challenges in communication regarding his accent, but this is improving all the time. Stability in his career in the UK is currently the main focus for him and his family.
His motto for success is; Travel is learning, learning is travel.
“There is a lot of growth from just leaving that comfort zone. I will always recommend for anybody, regardless of your profession, regardless of what you want out of life, to always move around. I encourage it, I encourage you to see things from other angles, it encourages you to develop faster than you would normally do. The world will become a better place if everybody just know a little bit about everybody“