Raising educational standards for the paramedic profession

In the College of Paramedics’ article in the March issue of the Journal of Paramedic Practice, John Martin introduced a piece by Andy Swinburn highlighting the increase in calls experienced by ambulance services and noting that the number of genuine life-threatening emergencies had not increased in kind (Martin and Swinburn, 2012). Their experience is typical and refects the ever-increasing emphasis on nonurgent patient workload in ambulance services across the country. Now, most 999 patients are not critically ill or injured, and usually suffer a wide range of less critical medical problems. While paramedics will continue to be expected to manage all critical patients effectively, they are now also expected to treat and refer a vast range of conditions with the added pressures of achieving hospital avoidance and maintaining patient safety.

With the concerted drive for the use of alternative treatment pathways, as opposed to the long-established mantra of conveyance to accident and emergency (A&E) departments, the way in which paramedic students are educated to deliver such a versatile care is paramount to their future within a developing profession and therefore raising the academic level of entry to the profession has become a key issue in the development journey.