References
Prioritising the development of paramedic students' interpersonal skills
Abstract
Objective:
This paper analyses residential-aged care clinical placements undertaken by undergraduate paramedic students participating in the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre's ‘Teaching Aged Care Facilities Program’. Benefits of the placement in facilitating the development of critical interpersonal skills are identified and discussed.
Setting:
A cohort of final year undergraduate students (
Method:
The research involved the collection of qualitative data during student feedback meetings at the end of students' placements. The data were analysed using a thematic analysis approach. Additionally, quantitative data from pre- and post-placement surveys were collected and analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics 20.0.0.
Results:
The research found that students benefited from the placement in terms of developing their interpersonal skills. Students demonstrated an increased understanding of dementia and improved communication strategies for working with people with dementia.
Conclusions:
Paramedic clinical placements in residential-aged care facilities address two key issues identified by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, these being a lack of interpersonal skills among graduate paramedics and a shortage of alternative learning sites.
Preparing ‘road-ready’ paramedics capable of working effectively in the unpredictable, and often uncontrolled, social world in which they operate (Campeau, 2008; Lazarsfeld-Jensen, 2010) presents a challenge to educators responsible for teaching undergraduates in this emerging discipline (Willis et al, 2010; Edwards, 2011). The demographic and epidemiologic transitions (Omran, 2005) being experienced in much of the developed world, including an ageing population, an increase in chronic illness and an escalation in the incidence of dementia are changing the nature of paramedic work (World Health Organization and Alzheimer's Disease International, 2012; Arendts and Lowthian, 2013). The transition of the paramedic from the traditional role of emergency responder to holistic, person-centred health practitioner (Joyce et al, 2009; O'Brien et al, 2013) means producing graduates with the requisite balance of clinical and non-clinical skills to meet these changing needs is critical.
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