Paramedic Science - BSc (Hons)

The BSc (Hons) Paramedic Science degree will develop your theoretical knowledge and practical skills within both the university and clinical practice environment. To be a paramedic you must be able to overcome challenges, show initiative and demonstrate critical thinking. This course will equip you with the skills and knowledge required to rise to these challenges, whilst developing your communication skills and knowledge.

All modules provide a balance between theory and practical application and provide the opportunity for you to reflect and apply context in clinical practice placements.This course is designed to be a catalyst for students to apply for registration with the HCPC and develop a successful career as a paramedic.

What's covered in the course?

To be a modern paramedic, you must overcome challenges, show initiative and demonstrate critically adaptive thinking, excellent communication skills and medical knowledge as the first point of contact in care provision for patients in stressful situations.

Becoming a professional modern Paramedic you'll need to be able to think critically, react appropriately in challenging and stressful situations, have effective communication skills and also have the knowledge and skills to deliver health care across the life span. You need to be able to do all of this whilst demonstrating empathy and care towards your patients and ensure your values and professional behaviour meet those required of HCPC to become a modern paramedic.

You will also become an effective member of the Paramedic profession by developing your medical and healthcare knowledge as well as clinical decision making skills and focusing on high quality patient centred health care. This will prepare you with the many possible career opportunities for the modern paramedic across settings such as clinical practice, education or research settings.

Where will I study?

You will study in our recently extended £71 million City South Campus, with access to cutting edge facilities and equipment that will enhance your skills learning. You will have access to advanced simulation facilities and environments that can re-create an emergency setting, allowing you to develop your hands-on skills right here on campus too. Our unique facilities are also useful to support you with any questions or queries before starting you real-life work placements.

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Why Choose Us?

• Funding - Allied health profession students will receive at least £5,000 a year in additional funding for maintenance and associated study costs. Download the funding FAQs

• We’ve invested £71 million in our City South Campus - complete with immersive classrooms, an operating theatre, hospital wards and simulation facilities to give you real-life experience on campus
• Benefit from our clinical partnerships, such as the NHS and other medical institutions - this course offers the core skills of the discipline, and the encouragement to achieve your personal and professional goals
• High graduate employability rate - 100 per cent of students went on to work or further study within six months of graduating on an average starting salary of £23,400 (Unistats 2016/17)
• Clinical experience - you will spend a significant period of time gaining experience, building confidence and skills in clinical placements
• Get work experience abroad - you can apply for a travel scholarship as part of our Go Abroad scheme to carry out exciting work placements overseas
• Learn though a variety of teaching approaches, including simulations in our extensive skills facilities such as: S.P.A.C.E learning facility (Skills Practice and Care Enhancement), fold-away ambulance and breathing/talking mannequins to practice patient care
• Online learning technology available 24 hours a day via Virtual Case Creator (VCC) software, which recreates a range of virtual scenarios to experience the practicalities of patient operations, assessment and care

A minimum of 120 UCAS tariff points. A typical offer would be BBB:

Essential Requirements

Further guidance on tariff points can be found on the UCAS website.

All candidates must satisfy the general admissions requirements of the programme, which are as follows:

• Applicants are required to undertake an interview*
• Applicants must have evidence of care experience or customer facing experience
• Whilst not essential it would be beneficial for applicants to possess a full clean UK manual driver's licence and where possible have provisional C1 entitlement added to their licence. Prospective students should be aware that whilst a driving license and category C1 are not requirements for acceptance onto the programme you should be aware that to improve your employability prospects following completion of the programme these should be considered as essential.
• You must be physically fit and have the strength to lift and carry patients and equipment.
• You must be able and prepared to undertake shift work e.g. night duty, evenings, religious festivals and weekends.
• You must be prepared to travel to a variety of diverse and sometimes distant locations as part of your clinical experience.
• Evidence of good health and good character are required which are assessed by occupational health screening and Disclosure and Barring Service report .
• Candidates whose first language is not English are required to provide the original language test certificate to the Admissions Tutor as evidence of their proficiency and must ensure that it is, or is comparable to, IELTS level 7.0 with no element below 6.5.

Claims by students who wish to APEL are approved by the Personal Development Department on an individual basis.

*Interviews - Candidates who are successfully short listed will be invited to attend a selection event. This will consist of a presentation from one of the Paramedic team; attendees will also be offered a tour of Birmingham City University facilities and opportunity to talk to current students. 

Learning Support Fund

From 1 November 2017 you may be able to apply for elements of the learning support fund if:

• you are studying a pre-registration healthcare course
• are studying in England and
• your course started on or after 1 August 2017

Visit NHS student services for more information

This course gives you a balance of both the academic, evidence-based approach to health care but also the hands-on, real-world training you will need to enter this vital and fast-moving part of the health service.

In your first year, you'll be getting the fundamental knowledge and skills for paramedic practice, whilst your second and third years are about both developing and enhancing those skills to allow you work flexibly in various settings.

You'll learn via a carefully-designed mix of academic and clinical modules and a rolling series of practical placements, with a mixture of lectures and project work. The course is designed to help you become a capable, competent practitioner steeped in the ‘6 Cs’ values of the NHS Constitution and become employable after you graduate.

You'll also develop your research, leadership and clinical reasoning capabilities, while discovering the legal and ethical framework of today's healthcare culture.

You will spend time on placement as part of this course, we are currently exploring new and exciting opportunities for placements. 

Additional support

If you are dyslexic, have a specific learning difference or a disability, we have a Disability Tutor who can help and support you. 

More on our disability tutor >>

We offer extra technical and learning support.

OpportUNIty

OpportUNIty: Student Jobs on Campus ensures that our students are given a first opportunity to fill many part-time temporary positions within the University. This allows you to work while you study with us, fitting the job around your course commitments. By taking part in the scheme, you will gain valuable experiences and employability skills, enhancing your prospects in the job market.

It will also allow you to become more involved in University life by delivering, leading and supporting many aspects of the learning experience, from administration to research and mentoring roles.

Facilities

We are constantly investing in our estate and are currently in the process of spending £260 million on new learning facilities.

We boast up-to-date, innovative facilities that simulate the real situations that medical staff may come across.

These resources are essential in offering students a hands-on introduction to health and social care practice. Much of our teaching is carried out within our state-of-the-art, £30m Seacole Building, which houses cutting-edge learning facilities.

Take a virtual tour of our skills suites at Seacole

In a sector where new techniques are constantly being discovered, we work hard to ensure that students learn using the most up-to-date equipment available. These include a mock operating theatre and a cutting-edge radiography virtual clinical training facility, virtual ward and virtual case creator.

Simulation Mannequins

We have several Simulation men (SIM men) and Simulation babies (SIM babies) which are leading edge, anatomically correct mannequins used for teaching specific techniques such as advanced adult and paediatric life support skills, acute and high dependency clinical skills, first aid and communication skills.

The SIM men and SIM baby mannequins are complete with software, which is used to replicate real symptoms, and are enhanced by the manipulation of for example blood pressure, pulse and heart rate for extra realism. SIM Man can also “talk” to the students which adds another dimension to their use in teaching clinical skills and in simulation exercises

Skills Practice and Care Enhancement facility

The SPACE (Skills Practice And Care Enhancement) learning facility lets you further practice the skills taught in class, at your own pace and convenience.

It is fully stocked with the specialist items and equipment needed for procedures such as taking blood pressure, giving an injection, abdominal examination of a pregnant woman and caring for ill babies in an incubator.