PARAMEDIC HEALTHCARE

Paramedic Healthcare

Paramedic Healthcare

Introduction

An excellent overview of international approaches to expanded paramedic roles has been presented in the report "An exploration of expanded paramedic healthcare roles for Queensland". In Canada, as in Australia, maintaining health care has been exacerbated by several factors including: rising cost of health care, increase in chronic diseases requiring greater health resources, a shortage of doctors and other healthcare workers in addition to the problems of recruiting and retaining staff in rural and remote communities.( Raven, 2006)

Discussion

Canada is divided into provinces with the responsibility to deliver the health care given to the provinces with the exception of First Nations health which is partnered with Health Canada, a federal government department. Over time, individual provinces have developed systems that meet the needs of the local communities. Nonetheless, availability of health care resources and finances has had an impact on the development of such systems. In Canada, like Australia, paramedics have been engaged in unofficial expanded practice opportunities for some time and interest lies in expanding roles and developing broader and more general knowledge beyond the highly specialized knowledge that is presently experienced by paramedics.

The major causes identified in the Queensland report as contributing to the relative under representation of the health workforce in rural and remote areas is equally shared in Canada with the shortages of health professionals continuing to worsen.

Outlined in the exploration of expanded paramedic healthcare roles for Queensland report, are recommendations that encompass strategic direction for sustainable health care solutions.

"The role of expanded practice programs for ambulance paramedics should be considered as a means of expanding their contribution to providing healthcare in the community, especially in rural and remote locations."(Raven, 2006, 128)

'Embedding' refers to aligning IL objectives with learning outcomes of an academic course or program.2 IL was embedded within a core Prehospital care subject rather than treated as an add-on or viewed as a student self-educational responsibility, as researchers have indicated students are more likely to engage and retain IL if it is embedded and contextualised.2 Embedding encourages students to value the importance of generic attributes and information literacy skills in their own discipline area and see their link to educational content and professional practice. This, in turn, is motivating for students and encourages a deeper level of learning.

In many rural and remote communities in Canada there is limited access to advanced life support. With expanded scope of practice, the opportunity to increase the community's level of care through alternate delivery models may enhance health care access and patient.(Karmali, 2005)

n order to fulfil the above requirements graduate paramedics need to embrace the concept of self-directed professional development and lifelong learning. They also need to develop skills and attitudes that are congruent with critical, inquiry and evidence-based approaches to healthcare provision. The use of research, reflection and self evaluation to inform, develop and improve practice to meet community, industry, profession and healthcare team needs are also important in attaining the above goals.

Given the requirements listed above, the challenge for universities is to find ...