What a palaver

I was hoping by now that I’d be able to enlighten you all with a positive outcome from my exam, alas no.

First of all, it went bloody terribly!! And secondly, they had so many technical difficulties that we are all being offered a resit so it’s all gone tits up.

I’ve continued to work in the warehouse and I’ve done another shift front line which is good because A) it keeps me sane and B) I’m earning money. Apart from that I’ve been going to the gym and just keeping busy. I thought I’d studied a lot for the exam but some questions were either super specific patho or just ridiculous unrealistic scenarios asking the difference between sympathy, empathy, compassion and humility. I get that it’s nice to know, but for my job role do I need to know the difference or just possess the qualities?

For context, the COPR exam is for any international paramedics moving to Alberta, any paramedics from out of province and any newly qualified ACPs coming from PCP level. It’s 200 questions and 4 hours long. I had to set up my laptop in the office, remove any furniture not secured and have a mirror to show the invigilator my keyboard. I also had to show under the desk, around the room, roll up my sleeves, show my wrists and also show both ears (to look for earpieces and headphones)!! I got told off twice during the exam, once for mouthing the question which apparently is just a bad habit and also for leaning on my chin and covering my mouth. It was wild.

So all in all, to get a pass you need around 75-80%, and I’m almost confident I didn’t get this. On the practice papers I was getting around 70% and with a few guesses I may have won the luck lottery. All will be revealed next week, if I have passed I won’t need to resit but if not, I get to save $650 and retest for free, winner winner chicken dinner some might say.

I’m back off to work tomorrow night for a few days. I’ve also got my first core flex shifts, this basically means 24/7 on call. It’s hard to explain but you get paid full rate for 10 hours and $3.50 an hour for the 14 ‘on call’ hours, it’s a bit shit though because you have to ‘accrue’ the 10 hours of patient contact which doesn’t always happen so you never get guaranteed down time, therefore meaning many micro naps and no real rest. I’ve got 5 days in a row because I’m poor so please manifest 5-6 hours an evening where I can sleep, otherwise pray for my patients because I’ll be snappy as hell (only kidding, I won’t be THAT bad).

I know you’re all on the edge of your seat awaiting some better news, and I really do hope I can give it to you next week! If not after the resit 🤞🏼

It’s starting to get a wee bit nippy here, winter is coming!!! Enjoy some more scenic views (ft me), some new wall art and a Shania Twain concert 🎶

Em x