Carol Amaratunga reports on the World Association of Disaster and Emergency Medicine's 18th World Congress on Disaster and Emergency Medicine, held this year in Manchester
Background: Paramedics in many parts of the US are required to obtain advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) recertification every two years. However, like other healthcare providers, they may experience problems with retention of this knowledge.Study objectives: This year-long study examined the difference in ACLS cognitive performance, measured by a modified Megacode, between two groups of paramedics: those who practiced for 10 minutes monthly over 10 months using brief computer-based ACLS...
Interprofessional education is becoming increasingly established in a global context. Ian Peate illustrates how adopting and adapting its principles will ensure paramedic graduates are adequately equipped to treat patients
Paramedic education is now commonly delivered by educational institutions, but there is still a continuous need to ensure the competency of experienced staff and to help with orientation to newly adopted pieces of equipment, brief staff concerning new protocols or guidelines, and to allow them to practise in a safe and controlled environment. A complementary solution to traditional training rooms proposed in this article is to use a mobile simulation unit to take the training where ambulance...
Gaps in training have been identified from reviews of the experiences of prehospital medical personnel faced with previous disasters like the Sichuan earthquake in 2008. It would be useful to identify and develop standardised training and educational core competencies in pre-hospital disaster training adapted to the local situation and health system in China. This paper identified six areas of training needs for responders to enhance their effectiveness in disaster settings. Two levels of...
Introduction Collaboration of emergency medical services and community organisations such as primary health care providers, social service agencies, and public safety groups can enable innovative initiatives that have the potential to improve the level of health care within a community and reduce health care system pressures. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the impact of an ‘aging at home’ program that uses an integrated health care team involving community paramedics on 911...
This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the individual, physical and psychosocial risk factors associated with back, neck and shoulder musculoskeletal pain, injuries and claims in paramedics.An internet-based survey of an Australian ambulance service was conducted between May and June 2011. The questionnaire included individual (demographic and psychological) items, and questions on the physical and psychosocial aspects of the job. The outcome measures included pain, injuries sustained and...
