All the latest news including media releases featuring paramedics as well as hot updates from PA and SPA. If it’s new – it’ll be featured here. Visit regularly for updates. A great way to stay up-to-date is to subscribe to your web browser’s RSS Feed. Just look for this symbol: 
CRANA is dedicated to the development and delivery of safe, high quality primary healthcare to remote and isolated areas of Australia through the education and support of remote health practitioners and advocacy for the issues affecting them and the people in their care. More information can be found by accessing their website at http://www.crana.org.au/
This project will support implementation of an Extended Care Paramedic model at a number of sites across Australia. The model enables provision of care to patients in their usual place of residence; thereby reducing emergency department presentations.
Paramedics Australasia (PA) Vice President Richard Larsen accompanied by Board Director Nicole Nott and Policy Advisor Ray Bange met with representatives from Health Workforce Australia (HWA) on the 7th March 2012. These meetings were a continuation of previous liaison work with HWA and built on submissions made by PA on Health Workforce Innovation and Reform. Two major matters were discussed.
Health Workforce Australia is looking at extending the role of paramedics in the community. Read more here.
Project Overview
Standing On the Shoulders of Giants:
Developing Paramedic Student Resilience: An Introduction to Paramedic Psychological Health and Coping
Presented by David Dawson, Lecturer, Mental Health & Wellbeing for Paramedics, Victoria University
This session will cover:
Date: Tuesday, 3rd April, 2012.
Time: 7.00pm – 9.00pm.
Venue: Victoria University, St Albans Campus, Building 3, Room 3C42 (Auditorium).
A light supper will be provided.
Bookings are essential and can be made on an individual basis by following this link: http://www.paramedics.org.au/elearning/cpeevent-booking-form/
Download an A4 poster version of this announcement here: PA Resilience Workshop April 2012
The Victorian Chapter of Paramedics Australasia is holding an evening Continuing Professional Development (CPD) event on Tuesday 13 March 2012, commencing at 1900 hours.
The Victoria Police Major Collision Investigation Unit (MCIU) will be attending to discuss the management and investigation of serious and fatal road crashes within Victoria, and the role that paramedics can play in assisting with this process.
The session will be held at the Ambulance Victoria training facility, 75 Brady Street, Port Melbourne. The session will run from 1900 – 2100 hours and may extend beyond this depending upon the number of questions.
Parking is unmetered, and is available in the street.
Bookings are essential for this event. Seats are strictly limited.
Bookings are individual (no bulk / block bookings), and must be lodged using the website based booking widget http://www.paramedics.org.au/elearning/cpeevent-booking-form All bookings will be acknowledged by an email within 36 hours, and no bookings will be accepted after 1500 hours 12 March 2012.
Youngcare is an incredible charity working towards providing alternate housing options for young people with disabilities currently living in aged care facilities. Even just one ticket purchased will go a long way towards helping this worthy cause and also puts you into the draw to win some great prizes.
The prizes are amazing:
This is a serious raffle with fantastic prizes up for grabs, tickets are only $20 each or 6 for $100, available to purchase here. If this is a little above your price range check out the young care online shop for a range of other merchandise you can purchase in support of young Australians with disabilities.
Youngcare raffle will be drawn on March 15, 2012. Results will be published in The Australian on Wednesday 21 March 2012.
It is not news to anyone that social media is becoming a huge part of our lives. As paramedic students it is only natural that we want to communicate various things that we have learned and experiences we have had on placement to our friends and family through these mediums. Whilst it is important to talk about these things, social media is a public forum and it is important that we are aware of just how easy it can be to slip up and breach patient confidentiality, or offend people not initiated into the health care world.
With this in mind the Royal College of Nursing Australia (RCNA) has released some social media guidelines for nurses, which apply equally to paramedics and paramedic students on placement. The full document can be downloaded here or at the end of this article, but i have summarised the main points:
Honouring the past, celebrating the present and embracing the opportunities of the future...
The Journal of Emergency Primary Health Care invite you to join them at this National Symposium to celebrate significant milestones in the evolution of community-based emergency health and the paramedic discipline in Australasia. This is a timely opportunity to connect with colleagues, past and present, while collectively continuing to develop the domain and the discipline in areas such as indigenous health, research, education, and the implications of the National Health Reform Agenda.
Session themes and program highlights:
Where: Lecture Theatre, 5th Floor, The Alfred Centre The Alfred Hospital, Commercial Road, Prahran
When: Tuesday 22nd November, 2011 8.30a.m. – 5.00p.m
Registration cost: $25 (excluding lunch)
Further information and to register please send an email to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
A commentary highlighting the omission of paramedics and paramedic services from national health care policy considerations.
Paramedics Australasia (PA) is the peak professional body representing the paramedic practitioners of Australia and New
Zealand. From this unique perspective PA draws attention to a number of key areas of concern regarding the provision of paramedic services and its relative absence from national healthcare policy and reform.
This commentary talks about four main points and summarises a range of other issues. These include:
1. The omission of Paramedic Services from the healthcare debate.
2. The absence of Paramedic Services from national funding arrangements.
3. The lack of recognition of paramedic practice as a health profession.
4. The absence of a national regulatory framework for PS and the lack of independent national registration of paramedics.
The full document can be found here:
A fresh Friday morning in Melbourne set the scene for the 4th annual Student Paramedics Australasia conference in Melbourne this August, with over 150 aspiring paramedics from all over Australia arriving at the William Angliss Institute for a day of insight and inspiration into elements of the paramedic profession. Greeted on arrival by the friendly SPA committee members handing out exciting show bags jam packed full of useful items the day was already off to a great start well before the opening address.
Shared amongst Alan Eade, Pauline Murcott and Tony Walker, this year’s opening address bestowed a sense of occasion upon this annual conference and an entertaining introduction from the SPA Director, Pauline “Cottee” Murcott, managed to get students warmed up and ready for the guest speakers to follow.
The first of the day’s sessions was delivered by Professor Peter Cameron, the Academic Director of the Emergency and Trauma Centre at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne and head of the Prehospital, Emergency and Trauma Group within the Department of Epidemiology and Preventative Medicine (DPEM) at Monash University. This session was heavily focussed on the advances in prehospital medicine and provided an insight into just how far paramedicine has progressed, and will continue to progress in the coming years in relation to service provision and skill sets for paramedics in Australia. Professor Cameron’s presentation allowed student paramedics an opportunity to increase their understanding of the way in which paramedicine is viewed by other healthcare professionals external to the paramedic profession.
Mr Ray Bange, the national Policy Advisor to Paramedics Australasia followed on from the first session with an engaging discussion regarding the national perspective in relation to paramedic registration. Some of the key messages to come out of this presentation included that registration of paramedics in Australia in some manner is inevitable therefore, making it essential for paramedics and aspiring paramedics to embrace the issue of national registration by becoming educated about the issue and effecting positive change. It was also highlighted that national registration of paramedics in Australia is not only for the convenience and monitoring of paramedics but that it is also an issue of patient safety requiring consistent national standards. Many of the pros and cons of national registration were discussed during Mr Bange’s presentation and in the interactive panel discussion which provided a balanced perspective on what national registration really means for paramedics in the future.
The final presenter to wrap up the morning session was Joe Acker, Senior Lecturer and Coordinator of the postgraduate leadership and intensive care paramedic courses at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst, New South Wales. Joe provided a sobering and thought provoking presentation on the paramedic perspective of multiple murder in the line of duty. To underpin his discussion of this issue Joe related his personal experience as the attending medic in the “Mayerthorpe Tragedy” in Canada 2005 where four Royal Canadian Mounted Police were shot and killed before the killer turned the gun on himself. For a number of the conference delegates aspiring to work as paramedics in rural Victoria this was a powerful presentation that highlighted many of the challenges of working within a small community where everyone knows everyone and close friendships are forged between emergency services personnel. Joe left delegates with a number of take home messages which centred on self-care and communication with colleagues during and after a major incident such as a death in the line of duty. Perhaps one of the most valuable points that can be incorporated into every day paramedic practice was the message of “be nice” not only to your colleagues but also to your patients, their relatives and the general community.
Following such an informative and riveting morning conference delegates were provided with a healthy and tasty lunch to prepare them for the afternoon session and the fantastic Youngcare Charity Raffle. Every year at the SPA conference the Youngcare Charity Raffle proves to be a highlight for conference delegates. With proceeds from the raffle going towards providing support for young people with 24 hour high care needs with the aim of improving their quality of life. This year the charity raffle included some great prizes which included Ambulance Victoria fixed wing and MICA placements, PA conference registrations, and an Apple iPad along with an assortment of paramedic goodies. Conference delegates and the SPA committee managed to raise $3500 in the Youngcare Charity Raffle this year, an exemplary effort for all to be commended on.
The afternoon session kicked off with a bang, as Nick Roder related some impressive facts and figures relating to emergency intubation by MICA flight paramedics in Victoria. Nick has spent 10 years as a MICA flight paramedic and is involved with educating student paramedics of all year levels which has earned him a reputation as a passionate and entertaining lecturer. The 100% intubation success rate for MICA flight paramedics and the 97.8% intubation success rate for all Victorian MICA paramedics is an achievement that all paramedics within Australia can be proud of as it validates this intervention within the paramedic skill set yet again. Surrounding these figures Nick included discussion on the education background and the average length of service of many of the MICA flight paramedics in Victoria. This provided some inspiration for student paramedics as to what it takes to become a MICA flight paramedic with Nick’s advice to all aspiring paramedics “… to be prepared for being a lifelong learner”.
The next session continued the theme of practicalities of paramedic practice and was presented by the ever entertaining Alan Eade. Alan is an intensive care paramedic and registered nurse with a considerable interest in the pre-hospital management of substance use. He has presented at a number of SPA conferences in previous years and every year he manages to get delegates laughing with his antics, whilst still managing to impart the kind of essential information a paramedic requires to be a good practitioner but is unable to learn from a textbook. As always Alan made this an interactive session which grabbed the attention of all conference delegates and was thoroughly enjoyed by those present. The title of Alan’s presentation was “Things I wish I knew before I started” and allowed student paramedics an opportunity to learn about some of the wonderful and sometimes not-so-wonderful challenges likely to be faced during their career. On a similar note to Joe Acker’s advice Alan emphasised the need for good self-care and looking out for your colleagues during periods of high stress as such simple actions can be the difference between a long and healthy career as a paramedic or a potentially short and troubled career.
Presenting a session on the model of escalation Mr Tony Angus provided a wealth of knowledge unable to be gleaned from a textbook. Through the use of a short video clip Tony was able to discuss potential triggers for patients, their relatives and for paramedics in the pre-hospital environment and discussion naturally turned to ways in which to recognise and deescalate some of these behaviours in the future. Tony has spent 6 years as a weapons and tactics instructor for Victoria Police and has a significant pool of knowledge to draw on in the discussion of conflict management. Above all, the key message in Tony’s presentation was to keep yourself and your partner safe through the use of good communication strategies, some advice which all paramedics can benefit from.
Last but definitely not the least, was Professor Malcolm Woollard’s presentation which used a series of case studies to demonstrate the importance of learning from the mistakes of others. Professor Woollard is the UK’s first (and currently only) Professor of Pre-hospital and Emergency Care and has an extensive list of qualifications and experience under his belt which made all delegates sit straight and pay attention. Conference delegates were taken off the beaten path with an opportunity to learn about the role of an expert witness in complaints management and quality improvement. This was an exceptionally engaging presentation which demonstrated that in the pre-hospital environment there is often a significant amount of room for individual clinician errors and systemic errors to become readily apparent. The use of an obstetrics case study provided a great opportunity for conference delegates working under the Ambulance Victoria Clinical Practice Guidelines to test their knowledge of the recently released obstetrics guidelines and posed a number of challenging questions surrounding resource management and the transport of unrestrained patients. Professor Woollard’s unique presentation brought the 2011 annual SPA conference to a close with style.
Congratulations must be extended to the SPA Executive Committee for all of their hard work in delivering an outstanding conference which ran seamlessly throughout the day. The conference allowed an opportunity for student paramedics to enhance their learning and to challenge themselves with presentations from an exceptional range of guest speakers. A truly excellent conference, hope to see more fresh faces and another great line up of presenters at the 2012 SPA conference!
Student Paramedics Australasia has grown enormously as an organisation over the past few years. We have achieved much. From our hugely successful national conference held at the William Angliss Conference Centre in Melbourne, charity contributions with Young Care, student blood drive with club red and the Red Cross, engagement with our societies in every state of Australia and the wins we have had lobbying to make student paramedics eligible for health care grants and scholarships – SPA is making things happen.
I have fantastic news! Paramedic students are now eligible for the Nursing and Allied health Scholarship and Support Scheme, which is run by "Services for Australian Rural and Remote Allied Health" (SARRAH). This is an organisation dedicated to providing services and advocating for allied health professionals living and working in rural and remote areas of Australia.
Applications for 2012 open on Monday the 12th of September, and close on the 17th of October 2011.
Scholarship holders will receive up to $10,000 per year during their undergraduate or graduate entry full time professional studies and up to $5000 per year for part time study.
Eligibility criteria aim to benefit those students coming from a rural background and can be found here: SARRAH Scholarship Eligibility Criteria
You can find more information about SARRAH and the scholarship here: SARRAH website
An international forum of 17 leading academics, paramedic service managers, regulators and providers has discussed the formation of a world-wide organisation to represent the paramedic profession. Representatives from five nations attended a two-day meeting in Ottawa, on 29-30 April, at which a peak body, International Paramedic, was proposed.
Australia was represented by Mr Ian Patrick the President of Paramedics Australasia and Mr Joe Acker, senior lecturer in paramedicine at the School of Biomedical Sciences at Charles Sturt University.
Mr Acker said participants at the forum, known as Paramedic G5, were united in their desire to improve how paramedic care is designed and delivered.
“The Paramedic G5 was committed to the need for a collaborative global community of sharing, partnership and learning, and identified a range of issues and opportunities to improve and evolve the provision of paramedic services, to advance the field of paramedicine, and support
the paramedic profession,” he said.
Health Workforce Australia will shortly begin a nationwide series of consultation sessions on the proposed Rural and Remote Health Workforce Innovation and Reform Strategy.
Before you dismiss this as something that is not relevant to you let me give you two reasons why it is important:
1. Input from these consultation sessions will have a direct impact on future healthcare arrangements and the provision of health resources. The Issues raised, topics discussed and questions asked will be heard by the people best placed to take action.
2. A significant proportion of the paramedic workforce is and will be located in the rural and remote environment. The more paramedics and paramedic students contribute to these consultation sessions the more effective our voice will be in seeking changes that will enhance patient care. It’s a great opportunity to make a difference.
Paramedics Australasia and Student Paramedics Australasia want to ensure that paramedics are well represented at these events and that means we need to see people participating at as many of the sessions as possible.
Events like these will shape the future of healthcare in Australia, and now is the chance to have an impact and contribute your views on what is needed! And if you are hoping to attend a session, then let know where and when so we can work together with PA at each venue. (email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Registrations are free and the online registration form can be found here: Online Registration
Available locations are: Adelaide, Port Augusta, Canberra, Warnambool, Albury/Wodonga, Weipa, Mackay, Hobart, Launceston, Sydney, Dubbo, Katherine, Darwin, Alice Springs, Kargoolie
More information is located at the HWA website here: Health Workforce Australia Website
SPA's 2011 National Student Conference is coming up this Friday!
If you are yet to register and want to, click the register now button.
If you are still making up your mind follow this link to our conference information pages:
2011 National Student Conference
If you have already registered you can download our conference booklet here. It is filled with information on speakers, the program, our chosen charity - YoungCare, sponsors, parking and accommodation information and a map of how to get there on the day.
There is still time to enter our student poster competition! Entries close 12pm Wednesday the 3rd of August. First prize is $1000, 2nd is $400, 3rd is 100 and 4th-10th place get $50 each. For more information click the link below:
Registrations open at 8:15, the conference kicks off at 9:00am and finishes at 5:30 for an hour of free refreshments and networking!
Can't wait to see you there!
If you would like to volunteer but are a little unsure what it involves and what is out there we may be able to help you out!
We are compiling a list of student paramedic volunteer profiles to give students ideas, inspiration and information about volunteering.
Getting involved with your community looks great on a resume and is a rich source of warm and fuzzies. It provides you with real world experience and the opportunity to meet different people from a variety of backgrounds, and the ability to help people!
So far we have:
Yelise Foon - St John Ambulance
Annie Tanner - The Oaktree Foundation
The 2011 application round for the Rural Health Continuing Education Program (Stream 2) is now open and will close on 8 August 2011.
The 2011 RHCE2 program, funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Health and Ageing, supports qualified health professionals working in rural and remote Australia to undertake continuing professional development and inter-professional learning activities – see RHCE2 website here.
RHCE2 is being administered for the Department by the National Rural Health Alliance for three years (April 2010-June 2013). Total funds available for RHCE2 project grants are approximately $630,000 per annum, with the final round in 2012-13. Information on the allocation of grants in Round One (2010) is here: Round 1 Grants Alocation.
RHCE2 grants are available for organisations and groups of individuals to access, develop or provide continuing professional development (CPD), continuing professional education (CPE), multi-disciplinary training or inter-professional learning (IPL) and orientation activities that meet the needs of:
practising in rural and remote areas of Australia.
The program will support cost-effective training that can encourage increased collaboration between professions and support the attraction and retention of health professionals in rural and remote areas.
For details see the Guidelines page of the RHCE2 website. Please read the guidelines carefully before applying online for a grant. Multiple applications will be accepted but given the strongly competitive nature of the RHCE2 grants, no single entity will be given more than one grant. In 2011, priority will be given to funding gaps in existing arrangements for CPD and supporting initiatives that are demonstrated by evidence based research as needing urgent intervention.
Support can only be provided for programs that are:
