Education: how or what to teach

It is clear that paramedic education has come on in leaps and bounds over the last two decades. The challenging journey we have taken from traditional, predominantly skills-based training courses towards broader, university education is well documented (Donaghy, 2008).

However, I am left wondering if this transition has been primarily one of improving educational method rather improving clinical relevance. We now have a better understanding of the roles that mentorship, reflective practice, simulation and e-learning, for example, play in the education of paramedics, but I am not convinced that we have the same depth of understanding in terms of what we should be using these methods to teach. I think we are pretty clear in terms of the generic, transferable skills such as critical thinking, clinical decision-making and ethics, which over time have proven themselves to be valuable components of a wide range of healthcare curricula, but I'm not sure we have the same clarity, cognitive and psychomotor skills required to meet our patients’ clinical needs.