Paramedic Practitioner: Is this where we should be heading?

[Kiwiology]

It would probably take this bloke the same amount of time to get his MD (MBChB) as it would to get his PA

That is what I am working on ...

Ah, five year undergraduate medical education how I love thee

[chbare]

We still have 4 month shake and bake paramedic camps in the United States, an Associates degree is not even required for entry into practice in most areas and most paramedic programmes require little to no mathematics or physical science education, yet this "paramedic practitioner" concept continues to come up on this site? Of course, there exist NP's with minimal physical science background who are independent practitioners, so I shouldn't be too surprised about people thinking they can be the new "diet physician."

Take care,

chbare.

[celticcare]

Hey all, I am currently working on my Masters of Nursing to become a Nurse Practitioner however, as Kiwi alluded, there is the Paramedic Practitioner program and pathway here. It is in one service *wellington Free* however it is in the pipelines for here. They are used successfully in the United Kingdom and have a wide range of drugs and procedures that can be utilised.

Paramedic training, like Nursing, requires a Bachelor of Health science with a major in either Paramedics or Nursing respectively. The next stages from the bachelors programs, are post graduate certs, diplomas and degrees *masters* to achieve higher level qualifications and scopes of practice. Currently to be an NP here, you must have a Masters degree with compulsary papers in Pathophysiology, Advanced Nursing assessment, Pharmacology, Nursing research and then option papers *I am doing Clinical education, Leadership and management and a prescribing practicum overseen by Emergency Attendings*.

There was a push for Paramedic Practitioners here a while ago, but it was squashed by the Nursing Council. Everything has its opposition, but then NP's have only been in NZ approx 10 years. We are getting there, I think the fact our health care professionals require a minimum of three years study to be qualified is a good thing. Similar approaches are made in Australia, the UK and Canada.

It's a shame that a worldwide superpower, like the USA, in general, appears to still use the cookbook style of paramedic education, but hopefully *I am an optimist after all* the time will come to have it all degree style. I would love to have both my skills utilised pre hospitally and in hospitally as an NP/PP.

Scotty

[tniuqs]

Why reinvent the wheel ?

Could it be possible that this has already been done because of serious "needs assessment" by NHS

http://www.paramedicpractitioner.com/

click scope.

Mike B. sure gets around ...

Edited July 21, 2011 by tniuqs

[Katiebug]

Why reinvent the wheel ?

Could it be possible that this has already been done because of serious "needs assessment" by NHS

http://www.paramedicpractitioner.com/

click scope.

Mike B. sure gets around ...

Now that's more like what I'm talking about. How's that working out over there?

[tniuqs]

Use the link and contact Mike B. his email is on it.

or try this link its a bit closer to TN.

http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/hpsc/hep/transform/dec10documents/communityparamedic.pdf

[Katiebug]

Thanks for the info. Thats good stuff.

[tniuqs]

Katie:

I contacted Mike an old acquittance, he does do presentations and public speaking engagements, he has vast experience Asia/Middle East/UK ++ and offshore oil platforms.

Feel free to contact him for advice.

cheers

[MrNinjaDrBrian]

I was raised by two physicians and have been always interested in the medical profession. I studied from the age of 14 to go into medical school and become a doctor (I thought I could make it easier if I started studying now). I got my Bachelors in Science and am a year from getting my Masters, I was about to apply to medical school, but I recently got a job in a hospital and I absolutely hated it, I miss my time on the rig and am now trying to get back to running on it again. This led me to quit my path to becoming a physician and instead get my Paramedic. My only wish is that there were something above that even, like a Paramedic Practitioner, where I could be like a roving NP or PA treating people in their homes so as to ease the patient load off of the hospitals. And in the case of a critical patient I could do more advanced surgical procedures until arrival at the appropriate facility. I do not want to see a copy of an NP or PA, but instead like the old doctors who would make house calls. The US is said to be facing a doctor shortage in the coming decade as there will be too many patients compared to physicians. If paramedic were allowed to become a Paramedic Practitioner we could not only curb the coming storm of patients to the hospitals, but also help those who maybe need it most in critcial situations.

Also wouldn't it be nice to tell the patient who is calling you for a stubbed toe and demands to be treated to go to the pharmacy and get a prescription of Ibuprofen filled!!!!! ;P

[chbare]

What advanced surgical procedures would you want to be able to do? What exactly could you do while waiting for transport? Also, why do you not want to take the PA or NP route? What is your aversion to using a concept like the PA that is already well established and capable of providing care in the way people explain on this site? Why the need to reinvent the wheel when we already have established "practitioners" in the form of midlevel providers? Additionally, I have not changed from my position two years ago.