Journal Paramedic Practice (JPP)

Protecting ambulance staff against violence and aggression in the workplace

According to SA Health (2015b), challenging behaviour with the potential to physically or psychologically harm another person can occur anywhere but tends to take place more commonly in cases where...

A brief guide to borderline personality disorder for pre-hospital clinicians in an emergency setting

Borderline personality disorder is termed a ‘serious psychiatric disorder’ (Perseius et al, 2007) and is associated with a high rate of suicide. It is associated with transient mood shifts,...

Infections of the heart and how they relate to the ambulance service

Pericarditis is the inflammation of the pericardium around the heart. Pericarditis can be broken down into two major groups that cause this disease: infectious (accounting for two thirds of the...

The search and rescue helicopter paramedic: an emerging role

The SAR paramedic role is at an exciting stage in its development. Not only is it transitioning from a predominantly military-provided service to a civilian contracted one, but also SAR paramedics are...

Are coaching and mentoring skills crucial for ambulance service managers? A personal reflection

In the 1960s, the use of the term ‘coaching’ by some experts was different to the perception we have today. Use of the term was perhaps more aligned to my own interpretation, which is, intuitively, to...

Scope of practice: considering how the role of the paramedic continues to change

The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) is a regulatory body set up with the key aim of protecting the public. In order for them to do this they maintain a register of health and care...

Length of professional education of paramedics and nurses at community colleges in the Northeast United States

Paramedics have provided advanced pre-hospital emergency medical care in the US since the early 1970s (National Highway Safety Traffic Administration (NHTSA), 2007; Edgerly, 2013). According to the...

Pain: highlighting the law and ethics of pain relief in end-of-life patients

The developments that were envisaged by the Department of Health's (2000) healthcare reform plan have placed a wider scope of professional practice on many healthcare workers and have allowed for...

A review of a self-prescribed medication regime in undiagnosed diabetes

Details of the medications reviewed in this article can be found in Box 1..

Does paramedic intubation improve patient outcome?

The second contribution to Spotlight on Research this month includes a summary of a research study which received one of the College of Paramedics' small grants for research: ‘A pilot study into the...

Musculoskeletal injury risks for ambulance workers

As part of their job, ambulance workers perform many tasks that expose them to musculoskeletal risks, including adopting awkward postures (Doormaal et al, 1995; Ferreira and Hignett, 2005); moving...