The Health Professions Council Standards of Proficiency for paramedics expect registrants to be competent in practising evidence-based practice. Although the treatments a paramedic can provide are steered by the Joint Royal Colleges Liaison Committee (JRCALC) Guidelines, it is important we can access good quality relevant research to ensure the care we provide our patients is based on the best available evidence. As paramedic education continues to evolve, it is likely more paramedics will wish to become involved in proposing and conducting research relevant and accessible to our own unique profession. The Department of Health's Research Governance Framework outlines the standards and responsibilities expected to be recognized by those wishing to propose and conduct research, and sets out the key ethical issues that are expected to be addressed as part of the research process.
The principles of beneficence (minimizing harm and maximizing benefits) and non-maleficence (a duty to protect or minimize harm) are fundamental to the ethical treatment of research participants. Informed consent is considered the keystone of ethical research and researchers must ensure participants fully understand the potential risks and benefits of the research they are participating in and as much information as possible must be given for consent to be valid, in the form of information sheets, for example.
The researcher has a duty to protect their participants and it should be considered that some population groups may be classed as vulnerable and may feel obliged to assist health professionals in research as they think declining may affect their future treatment—this may affect the validity of the consent gained. Paramedics have a duty to ensure patient confidentiality in their field of work and the principle of confidentiality is also an integral part of ethical research. Potential researchers need to be aware of the importance of confidentiality when dealing with the private information of research participants and the information they divulge. Although some privacy may be forfeited by granting the researcher access to personal information, this information should not be shared further without the authorization of the participant and a promise of confidentiality should be made to reassure them of this.
Paramedics wishing to conduct research should be aware that their proposed study may need to gain ethical approval from a research ethics committee (REC) and most universities in the UK have their own ethics review committees to review students projects. Research ethics committees aim to ensure the ethical issues and welfare of participants can be safely combined with the scientific aspects of a proposed research study. Ethics permission may be withheld for a research study if there is no evidence of how participants will be considered or how they will be supported if they become distressed during the research. Consideration for the researcher should also be made apparent in the research proposal and RECs may wish to have reassurances regarding their safety and wellbeing, especially if lone field work is being undertaken.
As more paramedics become involved in conducting research, we can look forward to building our own research base unique to our profession. By ensuring we always consider the important ethical principles such as informed consent and confidentiality when carrying out our studies, we can be confident of producing sound and valid research that is a credit to our profession.