A Paramedic Science student at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) has joined NHS England’s Allied Health Profession (AHP) Student Council Midlands in the hope of making a difference.
Tyler Howard is a newly appointed student council representative and aims to give his profession the platform it needs to improve the practice for future students and graduates.
The Midlands AHP Student Council started in 2022 to represent students and provide them with a voice on issues, challenges and successes relating to the profession they’re studying in.
Having been in post for a month, Tyler believes that he can make a difference to paramedicine for future DMU students and across the region.
Tyler said: “When I went for the interview, it was clear that they had never had a paramedic representative sit on the council before.
“Having worked in the field, this is quite exciting for me as it means that we’ll be able to share insights into the practice and potentially make a difference for future students and post-graduates.”
Practising CPR at DMU
The pre-hospital profession is currently under-represented with less than one per cent of paramedics completing the National Education and Training Survey (NETS), making it difficult to gather insights which could identify key areas for development.
Tyler will fly the paramedicine flag for the Midlands by attending regular monthly meetings along with 14 other health profession student representatives who will each add a student perspective on their respective areas.
He added: “I’ll take input from DMU and the rest of the paramedicine courses from the Midlands, including Nottingham Trent University, the University of Lincoln and the University of Birmingham.
“This will allow me to add a paramedics’ perspective to regional projects to develop educational support for AHP students.”
The fact that paramedicine was under-represented was further highlighted when Tyler attended a conference led by the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR) AHP.
Tyler, and another student paramedic, were the only two paramedic representatives present and it was down to them to provide their inputs.
He added: “After we went along to the conference, this role came up and I thought, ‘this is a real-world possibility that I could apply for and potentially make a difference.’
“I’m just finding my feet but I’m excited to see what kind of changes we can make.
"We’re in the process of deciding whether paramedics should do non-ambulance placements and putting in my personal views and the views of my course, we do still find it beneficial to do non-ambulance placements."
The post will last for two years, giving Tyler the opportunity to provide his experiences as both a student and as a qualified paramedic.
Posted on Tuesday 9 January 2024