Ms Chelsea Lanos1, A/Prof. Alan Batt1
1Monash University, Australia
Biography:
Dr. Alan Batt is Associate Professor (adjunct) at Monash University, and Paramedicine Program Lead at Queen's University.
Abstract:
Background
Community paramedics provide person-centred care in a diverse range of settings that address the needs of the communities they serve. Their practice may include the provision of primary health care, health promotion, chronic and episodic disease management, clinical assessment, and needs-based interventions.
Objectives
We sought to describe the roles that community paramedics enact in Canada.
Methods
This was a three-phase study that combined 1) frameworks describing community paramedicine in Canada, 2) a review of community paramedicine literature focused within the Canadian setting, and 3) a review of data reported by a pan-Canadian working group on community care, primary care, and public health paramedic practice. Elements identified at each phase were extracted and mapped to an existing role description for paramedics in Canada. Elements central or unique to community paramedic practice were iteratively identified and highlighted.
Results
Community paramedics perform multiple roles that span a broad continuum of the healthcare system: clinician, professional, education, advocate, team member, system navigator, and reflective practitioner.
Conclusion
Community paramedics share common roles with other paramedics in Canada, but their enactment of these roles is contextually specific and involves elements that are either unique or more prominent when compared to traditional paramedic practice.