This is a research paper which reports on a pilot prospective data collected during 12 months of an Advanced Paramedic service delivery with the HSE’s National Ambulance Service. The ensuing analytic exercise allowed the author to reflect on the skills used for a diversity of patients with different pathologies.
In July 2004, significant changes occurred at the Limerick Ambulance Station. After negotiations between local management, crews and union representatives, the shift hours for all crews changed from 8 hours to 12 hours with a shuffling of the deployment of ambulances throughout the week.
The experience of an individual Advanced Paramedic is the primary focus of this research. The aim was to reflect on the number of newlyacquired advanced clinical skills carried out during the first twelve months as a qualified AP in order to describe, analyse and evaluate and so inform learning from practice.
Using a daily log of calls, data was maintained on all patients attended to by the author during the first year of clinical practice. The Advanced Paramedic is clinically responsible for the patient when working with an EMT or a Paramedic. When working with another AP, only patients that the author was attending were incorporated in the data collection.
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If an advanced skill was performed to assist the other AP, this was included too. Data was processed and analysed and graphs were created using Excel Microsoft Office 2003®.
“When we speak of ‘reflective practitioners’ we usually refer to adult learners who are engaged in some kind of activity (often professional) which they can use to reflect on their strengths, weaknesses and areas for development. Students in turn need to be encouraged to use situations, for example tutorials, group discussions or placements, as a basis for reflecting on what they have learned. Reflection is an important human activity in which people recapture their experience, think about it, mull it over and evaluate it. It is this working with experience that is important in learning. This paper reports on the clinical interventions provided by a newly trained and appointed Advance Paramedic in the National Ambulance Service, in the west of Ireland.”
The full paper is available under
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