The Australasian College of Paramedicine

2: Paramedics in Critical Care
This episode of Advocacy in Conversation was recorded live at the Critical Care Summit 2023 with College CEO John Bruning joined by special guests Michelle Murphy ASM, Dr David Anderson, and Adjunct Associate Professor Gayle Christie. The panel discussed the impact of policy and legislation on paramedic scope of practice, while also sharing insight and perspective on the existing and potential roles of paramedics in contemporary critical care.

Acknowledgement of country -
This event took place on the lands of the Ngandowal and Minyungbal people of the Bundjalung nation, in particular the Goodjinburra, Tulgi-gin and Moorung-moobah clans. We acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia, the Māori peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand, and the Indigenous Peoples of the lands and countries where our members and listeners are today.
 
Credits:
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/nick-petrov/diving-in-the-sky  
License code: 3U3MZPP0RFJHPAQW  

About this episode:

Implicit bias. Prejudice. Implicit attitude. Synonyms of the same theory – essentially: an attitude or a perceptive of someone [particularly a patient] of which we are not consciously aware. The brain has a natural tendency to sift, sort and categorise information about the world around us which is an innate formation of implicit bias. It is normal. But how does it affect the way we treat patients, how they are able to access health care and the consequences that overflow into long term outcomes? In this podcast we discuss implicit bias, what it is and elements of it in pre-hospital practice. An eye opening and informative chat which highlights the potential for ongoing impacts on the patient’s health journey.

About Shaun Whitmore
Shaun is an experienced Flight Paramedic with a demonstrated history of working in the hospital and health care industry. Shaun is skilled in Emergency Management, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Emergency Medicine, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS).

About Stephanie Nixon
Stephanie is an advanced care paramedic with QAS. She lives and works in a small rural town where she is an active member of the community. She has worked as a paramedic for the past 10 years after completing a Bachelor of Health Science (Paramedic) at QUT. She is now completing a Master of Paramedicine (Extended Care) at Charles Sturt University and looks forward to furthering her research pathway in the future.

About Shonel Hall (Host)
Shonel is a practicing midwife & paramedic as well as academic in paramedicine. She is passionate about out-of-hospital obstetrics and educating paramedics on birth and helping alleviate the fear surrounding these presentations. Outside of work Shonel is a wife and mother of 4 beautiful children under 10. She is an avid camper, Prosecco enthusiast and works toward reducing the effect of our footprint on the planet.

* Please note – we sincerely apologise for some sound / internet reception issues encountered in this episode.

References

Stephanie Nixon Article published in the Australian College of Paramedicine (2022) Response Magazine – Spring 2022 (page 14) - click here to view

Stephanie Nixon ACPIC 22 case study presentation (Frequent calls to the ambulance service and the ways we managed this in a small community) covers aspects of implicit bias. Click here to view

FitzGerald, C., & Hurst, S. (2017). Implicit bias in healthcare professionals: a systematic review. BMC medical ethics,18(1), 19. Click here to view  

About this episode:

Dan O'Brien leads a panel of remote and austere prehospital care specialists from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand to discuss their experiences working in remote and austere settings. Dan is joined by Danielle Little, Sunny Whitfield, Kerryn Wratt and Nicole Foster, whose collective expertise covers prehospital care in offshore, expedition, film and wilderness medicine, military, mining, exploration, and construction industries, and provide insight into what it is like to work in these environments.  


About Nicole Foster

Nicole Foster is an Australian registered paramedic who has worked as a paramedic and educator on four continents, specialising in remote and austere prehospital care. Nicole is a working group member of the International Committee of Austere Emergency Care, the International Board of Speciality Certification (Wilderness Paramedic) in the United States and the Community Paramedicine working group with the Australian College of Paramedicine. She has contributed to the NATO Special Operations Combat Medic Remote and Austere Medicine field guide for practitioners. She founded the International Health Research Institute – a European research and consultancy company focusing on improving health systems, technology, and health professionals in remote and austere locations.


About Kerryn Wratt

Kerryn has 20+ years experience as a frontline intensive care and wilderness paramedic having worked in Victoria and Tasmania as well as internationally in New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Nepal. In 2012 Kerryn received a scholarship from the Emergency Services Foundation to explore emergency response systems that deploy medical personnel into remote and wilderness environments throughout North America. Kerryn’s subsequent report helped inform the establishment of Ambulance Victoria’s statewide paramedic wilderness response system.

In 2018 and 2019 Kerryn delivered Basic Wilderness Life Support courses on the Annapurna Base camp trek in Nepal and in 2020 he volunteered with the Himalayan Rescue Association at a high altitude medical clinic in Pheriche. In 2020 Kerryn completed his Fellowship of Wilderness Medicine in association with the Wilderness Medicine Society in the USA. In 2021 the WMS awarded Kerryn the Warren D Bowman award for services to Wilderness Medicine, the first time this had been awarded outside of the USA. Kerryn is currently based in Nelson, New Zealand as a Critical Care Flight Paramedic on the Nelson/Marlborough Rescue Helicopter and serves as founding President of the Australasian Wilderness and Expedition Medicine Society (AWEMS).


About Steve 'Sunny' Whitfield

Sunny is an Australian based academic, paramedic, expedition leader, geographer, and writer with experience in prehospital health care, humanitarian operations, expedition medicine, flight medicine, and emergency service development. He has worked in the Himalayas, Pacific Islands, Central Asia, the Middle East, and the Arctic and founded Medics Beyond Borders to provide creative solutions to impact gaps in prehospital and primary health care services in low GDP countries. Sunny is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine, a member of The Association of Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection, and a member of the Australasian Medical Writers Association.


About Danielle Little

Danielle has 14+ years experience in frontline ambulance. Danielle has worked offshore and has remote experience on the Shell Prelude/Arcadia project, ENSCO 107 Jack Up Rig, Sapura Constructor SubSea Vessel. Danielle has worked with the Australian Defence Force for live fire exercises, involved in the commissioning phase Christmas Island Detention Centre.

1: The role of College advocacy
In the first episode of our new Advocacy in Conversation podcast series, College CEO John Bruning talks with our Chair Ryan Lovett and Advocacy and Government Relations Lead Michelle Murphy ASM about the evolution of our advocacy work, the impact it's having, and its role in shaping the future of the profession.

Linkedin: Australasian College of Paramedicine | LinkedIn
Instagram: Aust College of Paramedicine (@acparamedicine) • Instagram photos and videos
Twitter: Australasian College of Paramedicine (ACP) (@ACParamedicine) / Twitter
Website: The Australasian College of Paramedicine (paramedics.org)

Special mentions:
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/nick-petrov/diving-in-the-sky 
License code: 3U3MZPP0RFJHPAQW 

Host - Stuart Cook
Guest - Dr Martin Chadwick

About this episode:

Chief Allied Health Professions Officer Dr Martin Chadwick sits down with one of our Aotearoa New Zealand committee members Stuart Cook to discuss Martin’s views on Paramedicine and how he can support paramedics within Aotearoa from his role within Manatū Hauora - Ministry of Health.  

About Martin:

Martin is the Chief Allied Health Professions Officer within the Ministry of Health, working in partnership with the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Nursing Office in providing transdisciplinary clinical leadership and advice. The role works at a systems level as well as providing support to clinicians, programmes and projects across the Ministry. He is aligning a work programme around what he describes as the five challenges facing allied health. This includes the challenges of demonstrating the value add of the allied health professions to population health outcomes; and working towards the concept of transdisciplinary working in the provision of healthcare services.  Martin was the 2019-20 New Zealand Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy and Practice. He has completed his doctoral degree in 2019 examining health workforce change. He is passionate about the untapped potential that allied health professions can bring in improving the quality of care provided to our populations, and in turn better meeting equitable population health needs.

About Stuart: 

Stuart has worked in the prehospital sector for more than 23 years’ in Aotearoa New Zealand including ambulance operations, HEMS, clinical development, and education. He is a registered Paramedic in both New Zealand and Australia. 

He has a strong interest in primary healthcare, remote and austere medicine, and the use of technology for remote education. He completed his Health Practice Masters - Paramedicine in 2018 

Stuart looks forward to developing the College’s New Zealand based education and mentoring models for paramedicine. He also looks forward to seeing the Paramedic profession growing and adding value to all areas of Healthcare in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

In this podcast Kate, Julie and Shonel have a candid conversation about women’s mental health. 

Kate is a former police officer, yoga instructor, runner and CrossFit athlete.  Kate uses her experience to support others to live a better life. Kate and her therapy dog Gidget are support workers for the ‘moving beyond trauma program’ at Petrea King’s The Quest of Life Foundation. Kate talks to Julie and Shonel about how we can better care for ourselves and each other without adding more burden. We look at ways to take positive steps to protect our wellbeing and include little moments in our daily life that have huge benefits to both our physical and mental health. 

Julie is the College Education Manager, Registered paramedic and former nurse who has also studied Trauma informed Yoga with Kate. Shonel is the College Clinical Education Officer and Midwife. Together with Kate, they explore the myths, concepts and importance of looking after yourself and each other. 

Australasian College of Paramedicine International Conference 2022

Embracing Strengths | Shaping Futures

Join us for the peak paramedicine event on the Australasian calendar, designed to inspire, educate and broaden horizons.
 
Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre - 14 - 16 September 2022

Hosted by: Jessica Wissa, ACPIC 2022 organising committee member and Critical Care Paramedic, Queensland Ambulance Service 
 
Guest: Lucy Oatley, ACPIC 2022 organising committee chair, and Intensive Care Paramedic, Ambulance Tasmania

Click here to find out more 

Host: Julie Johnson
Guest: David Jaensch

About this episode:

In this podcast, we will hear from David Jaensch, Community Paramedic and Intensive Care Paramedic who will discuss the importance of developing a strong relationship with community to improve health outcomes. Dave will explore how he works collaboratively with other agencies to improve access to health care and how his work has led to better outcomes for the community.  

Together with our education manager Julie Johnson, they will explore how building trust can improve health literacy and influence GP led care. Julie has worked in primary health care as both a nurse and paramedic and is looking forward to discussing how the success of the Ceduna community paramedicine model has improved the health of marginalised communities and strengthened partnerships with other health agencies. 

Host: Stuart Cook
Guests: Jack  Faxon and Shell Piercy  

About this episode:

In this episode Jack, Shell and Stuart discuss how paramedics are starting to work outside the standard ambulance models of care in New Zealand.

Additional resources: 

• https://www.health.govt.nz/publication/standing-order-guidelines  
• https://legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2002/0373/latest/DLM170107.html?search=ts_regulation%40deemedreg_medicines%20standing%20orders_resel_25_h&p=1  
• https://pharmac.govt.nz/pharmaceutical-schedule/community-section-b/practitioners-supply-order-pso-previously-the-mpso-list/  
• www.acehub.co.nz  ATS triage course  

 

About Shell 

Shell is an Extended Care Paramedic and Nurse Practitioner Intern working in Rural General Practice in the Waikato area. Her role involves seeing acute and urgent patients in shifts across 24 hours 7 days a week. She is part of a team of Extended Care Paramedics, GPs, and practice nurses. Shell now holds a Bachelor of Health Science Major Paramedicine from AUT, a Bachelor of Nursing Science from Massey Wellington, a Post Graduate Diploma in Emergency Nursing, and special interest papers in Forensic Biology, postgraduate research, and postgraduate community paramedicine. She will complete her Master of Nursing Science with the completion of her Nurse Practitioner Practicum later this year.  

About Jack: 

Jack Faxon Jr is as an Advanced Health Care Practitioner at City Medical Ltd in the beautiful Hawke’s Bay. His other employment is a clinical support officer with St John New Zealand as a Critical Care Paramedic. Jack has a mixed scope of practice of critical and extended care paramedicine. 

Jack works as part of a multidisciplinary team of Drs, RNs, nurse prescribers (soon two NPs) and HCAs. They come together to ensure that they are meeting the needs of the community in as many facets as they can, this is why they have taken this multidisciplinary approach. 

About Stuart: 

Stuart has worked in the prehospital sector for more than 23 years’ in Aotearoa New Zealand including ambulance operations, HEMS, clinical development, and education. He is a registered Paramedic in both New Zealand and Australia. 

He has a strong interest in primary healthcare, remote and austere medicine, and the use of technology for remote education. He completed his Health Practice Masters - Paramedicine in 2018 

Stuart looks forward to developing the College’s New Zealand based education and mentoring models for paramedicine. He also looks forward to seeing the Paramedic profession growing and adding value to all areas of Healthcare in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

Hosts: Jonathon Massey and Nick O'Neill
Guest: Rhys Sycamore

About this episode:
Jonathon and Nick chat to UK Paramedic student Rhys Sycamore about the fear of failure as an undergraduate, the importance of having a good mentor throughout your studies/career and some similarities/differences between studying in the UK and Australia. Rhys also talks about his role as the South West Representative for the Student Paramedic Council and what this involves.

About Rhys:
Rhys is a final year paramedic student, currently studying at Plymouth University in the United Kingdom. Rhys was elected the South West Representative for the Student Paramedic Council, a position he has held for the past 12 months. As an undergraduate, Rhys has published articles in the Journal of Paramedic Practice and the British Journal of Nursing, where he has discussed important issues relating to students from disadvantaged backgrounds, the exacerbation of inequality during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the rise of international volunteer tourism.

About Jonathon: 
Jonathon is a 2nd year Paramedic student at Edith Cowan University. Coming from a mixed background in retail, hospitality, and customer service, he found a passion in remote and rural emergency medicine when he signed on to volunteer with SJA WA in 2018. It ignited a love of caring for and helping people in need. While he works on the ACP podcast, he hopes to bring you stories of paramedics and their challenges, building towards overcoming those challenges we face as a collective profession, and understanding how to cope and deal when something doesn’t go well.  

About Nick: 
Nick is a 3rd year Paramedic student at Charles Sturt University. He has a background in the Finance industry of over 10 years and finally decided to make the jump into a more fulfilling career. As a mature aged, distance student with a background that isn’t health-related, Nick hopes to share some of his experiences from a less-common entry path to Paramedicine and looks forward to bringing you some discussions with a wide range of health professionals to delve into their specialties and knowledge.