Challenges Facing the Paramedic Profession in Australia

This essay discusses the challenges faced by paramedics in Australia while performing their duties. It covers issues such as limited funding, lack of communication and teamwork, and the increase in demand for their services. The essay also suggests remedies to these challenges.

PARAMEDICS IN AUSTRALIA1
The Challenges Facing the Paramedic Profession in Australia
Name
Course
Professor’s Name
Institutional
Date

PARAMEDICS IN AUSTRALIA 2
The paramedic profession is one of the most dangerous occupations in Australia.
Discuss the challenges.
A paramedic is a medical professional who provides healthcare to individuals who are
predominantly found in out of the hospital and pre-hospital environments and these situations are
mainly emergency situations like in ambulances as part of emergency medical services (EMS).
They are the most highly trained class of emergency medical technician working in the
emergency medical field. The width of the scope of roles of paramedics differ from country to
country but what is common for all of them is that they have the power to make autonomous
decisions on regard to the giving emergency care to patients (Waxmanand Williams2015).
In some countries like Australia, paramedicshave professional bodies who represent their
interests as they perform their duties. The Australian body is referred to as Paramedics
Australasia. Each year, these paramedics respond more than three million emergency medical
assistance calls. According to a report by Safe Work Australia (SWA), paramedics have the sixth
highest level of injuries that occur while they are carrying out their duties and also they have the
sixth highest reports and claims in men for mental stress (Williams, Onsman and Brown 2010).
This shows that paramedics in Australia face a variety of challenges while carrying out their
duties but there are also remedies to these challenges and this essay will name both of these
issues.
When paramedics are called upon they have a variety of roles to perform. They are
majorly responding to medical and trauma situations. These emergency calls can include
responding to illnesses such as labor and delivery, heart attacks and severe allergic reaction.
Thus, the paramedics will give the patients various medications in an effort to soothe their
symptoms as they are being transported to the hospital. They can be required to first when they

PARAMEDICS IN AUSTRALIA 3
arrive at the scene of the emergency to evaluate the health situations of the patients so that they
can know what step to take next (Lazarsfeld-Jensen, Bridgesand Loftus2011). They can also give
people who have their airways blocked by performing emergency respiratory procedures. Next,
when people get injured these paramedics can bandage their wounds. At times people can suffer
serious injuries from accidents to their heads and necks and paramedics are called in to stabilize
their head and necks injuries and time to stabilize the broken bones that patients might suffer.
They also have the duty to give medications to patients once they find out what their ailment is
and they can also give the patients intravenous (IV) fluids. They also have the skills to
resuscitate victims who have drowned. Finally, they help victims of heart attacks by performing
cardiac support and can also aid in the emergency delivery of babies for women in labor (Perkins
et.at, 2015, pp.950). For them to perform all these duties and more, they have to have some traits
like maintaining composure when they face stressful situations, be patient, know how to work
well with others on their team and as well as be able to think fast and on their feet while they are
responding to emergency situations.
In Australia, the paramedic profession is among one of the most dangerous ones as they
have one of the highest levels of fatalities of all professions. They also face a variety of
challenges while performing their duties but these challenges can have remedies so that the
paramedic profession can be made easier and effective. First, Australia is a vast country with
different terrains and remote locations and paramedics have to provide the best, efficient and
effective prehospital medical care to the population in these areas. It could be hard to reach all of
these people because the emergency vehicles may not be able to reach these people because the
terrain could be hard to maneuver. Thus this will make it hard for the paramedics to give the best
healthcare possible in a timely and effective manner. Also, the paramedics can get lost if they are

PARAMEDICS IN AUSTRALIA 4
not familiar with the area as Australia is quite vast thus they may not reach the emergency
situation as fast as possible (O'MearaandGrbich2009). The remedy to this challenge is that
paramedics can be taught about the vast geographical areas in Australia especially the area that
they are assigned to and once they are familiar with these they will be able to reach those in need
of emergency medical care without getting lost. The emergency vehicles should be adjusted or
be ones that can access all terrains and thus they can reach all people everywhere who are in
need of emergency medical services no matter where they are (O'Meara, Tourle, Stirling, Walker
and Pedler2012, pp.10).
Another challenge is there is an increase in demand for the services of paramedics in
Australia mainly due tothe growth of the aging population in the country while they have a
limited supply of health resources. The paramedics have to find a way to meet the growing
demand to provide emergency medicalcare effectively and efficiently. They have to identify
means through which the paramedics can apply their limited health resources to equally give
emergency medical services to the Australians who require them. As a solution to this challenge,
the Australian government should carry out studies to know what health resources are being
strained. Once this is known, they can assign more of the budget to increase these resources so
that they cannot be strained and individuals can get the most effective and best emergency
medical services when they require it (Lazarsfeld-Jensen, Bridgesand Loftus2011).
The next challenge is that recently there has been an increase in incidences which involve
attacks with agents like biological, chemical and radiological in Australia but the paramedics
have been lacking in being prepared to responding to such situations. Even though they have
developed multi-agency action plans ad equipping them to deal with such situations the
paramedics still have trouble being prepared to respond. Thus, these attacks keep on evolving

PARAMEDICS IN AUSTRALIA 5
and the agencies like paramedics cannot keep up with them and respond to such emergency as
fast as possible(Roberts, Henderson, Willisand Muir‐Cochrane2013, pp.375). A solution to this
challenge is the different agencies that exist in Australia who deal with such national
emergencies should work together and identify these attacks and find ways to prevent them
before they occur. If they cannot prevent them, they should regularly carry out drills on
responding to such emergency situations so that the paramedics and know how to respond
quickly incase of similar situations (Roberts, Sim, Blackand Smith2015).
In Australia, the paramedic's services mainly depend on funding from sources like
insurance, transport fees, funding from the government and subscription schemes. This limits the
amount of funding that they can get to carry out their services as they just depend on these
sources and have no other options to turn to. Thus limited funding will limit the level of quality
of services that they can provide. A remedy to this problem is that more efforts should be put to
find more sources of funding for the paramedic's services. When there are more options, it won't
limit the amount they get and also they will not be boxed in with the quality of services that they
give to their patients. Therefore the more options there are for funding the more finite resources
will be available (Mahony2012, pp.8).
In Australia, one in every five patients whom paramedics respond to when they are in
emergency situations are people who have mental health and substance abuse issues. Most of the
times these patients have a tendency of acting out or being violent and causing harm to the first
responders. There has been an increase in the occurrence of such situations across the country
with more paramedics getting harmed as they perform their duties (Maguire, O’Meara,
Brightwell, O’Neilland Fitzgerald2014, pp. 479). This challenge an be remedied by ensuring that
protocols are in place for situations where patients are violent so that the situation can'tescalate.

PARAMEDICS IN AUSTRALIA 6
Also, the paramedics should be trained in self-defense tactics so that they can defend themselves
incase they are attacked while they are providing their services (Williams, Onsmanand
Brown2010, pp.582).
Also, when they respond to these patients with mental health and substance abuse issues,
the patients may be prone to causing self-harm to themselves. At times these accidents that they
respond to are tragic. This means that the paramedics can witness various tragic situations which
can involve death in their careers which could cause harm to their mental state. They could suffer
issues like depression or suicidal thoughts. More and more paramedics in Australia are reporting
that they suffer from some form of a mental issue as a result of carrying out their
duties(Sofianopoulos, Williams, Archerand Thompson2011). As a solution to this issue is that
there should be safe avenues where the paramedics can turn to when the stress from their work
threatens their mental health. By providing a means like therapy sessions where they can talk to
someone about their issues, the paramedics can deal with them before it reaches a critical point
(Scully2011, pp.40)
Lack of communication and teamwork between paramedics who work together is an
issue. When these paramedics cannot communicate well and coordinate with their fellow team
members, it will negatively affect the quality of emergency medical services that they provide.
Thus as a solution, paramedics should hold retreats for them where they can hold sessions to
build trust between the teams once there is trust it means people an communicate better while
they are working. Also, transparency and dialogue in the paramedic's teams should be
encouraged and an example set by those in charge so that the rest can follow(Edwards2011,
pp.80).

PARAMEDICS IN AUSTRALIA 7
The education of paramedics in Australia is another challenge. There is a lot of skills and
knowledge that paramedics are expected to learn in a short period of time. Educators are at a loss
because they know that the curriculum is quite extensive and even if they teach it to the best of
their ability they can never be sure if the paramedic's students absorb it in all (Hou, Regoand
Service2013). Also, from day one on the job the paramedics have lives depending on
them,unlike other medical students who get to practice first before they are thrown intoreal-life
situations. Thus the curriculum should be adjusted so that it is ensured that it is not only top
quality but the students can absorb it easily and thus apply it to their jobs with no issue leading to
lives being saved (O’Brien, Moore, Dawsonand Hartley2014).
All in all, the paramedics in Australia are faced with a variety of challenges while they
are dispensing their services during emergency situations. These challenges create hindrances to
them while delivering these services and thus it can lead to dire consequences for the patients
who require these emergency interventions. The challenges given in the essay above have
remedies which have been suggested as a solution and they should be applied so that it can
ensure that paramedics can go on with their work with no issue. However, there are more
challenges that face the paramedic'sprofession and thus more studies need to be carried out on
the issue. By using the findings remedies can be formulated for these challenges and this will
lead to the betterment of the services given during emergency situations.

PARAMEDICS IN AUSTRALIA 8
References
Edwards, D., 2011. Paramedic preceptor: work readiness in graduate paramedics. The clinical
teacher, 8(2), pp.79-82.
Hou, X.Y., Rego, J. and Service, M., 2013. paramedic education opportunities and challenges in
Australia. Emergency Medicine Australasia, 25(2), pp.114-119.
Lazarsfeld-Jensen, A., Bridges, D. and Loftus, S., 2011. Transitions: Command culture and
autonomous paramedic practice. The Transitions Project Report. Bathurst: Charles Sturt
University.
Maguire, B.J., O’Meara, P.F., Brightwell, R.F., O’Neill, B.J. and Fitzgerald, G.J., 2014.
Occupational injury risk among Australian paramedics: an analysis of national data. Med J
Aust, 200(8), pp.477-480.
Mahony, K., 2012. The politics of professionalisation: some implications for the occupation of
ambulance paramedics in Australia. Australasian Journal of Paramedicine, 1(3), p.8.
O’Brien, K., Moore, A., Dawson, D. and Hartley, P., 2014. An Australian story: paramedic
education and practice in transition. Australasian Journal of Paramedicine, 11(3).
O'Meara, P.F., Tourle, V., Stirling, C., Walker, J. and Pedler, D., 2012. Extending the paramedic
role in rural Australia: a story of flexibility and innovation. Rural and remote health, 12(2), pp.1-
13.
O'Meara, Peter, Ph. D., and Grbich, Carol, 2009. Paramedics in Australia: contemporary
challenges of practice, Pearson Education Australia, Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.

PARAMEDICS IN AUSTRALIA 9
Perkins, G.D., Lall, R., Quinn, T., Deakin, C.D., Cooke, M.W., Horton, J., Lamb, S.E., Slowther,
A.M., Woollard, M., Carson, A. and Smyth, M., 2015. Mechanical versus manual chest
compression for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (PARAMEDIC): a pragmatic, cluster randomised
controlled trial. The Lancet, 385(9972), pp.947-955.
Roberts, L., Henderson, J., Willis, E. and MUIR‐COCHRANE, E., 2013. The challenges of
gaining ethics approval for ethnographic research in the pre‐hospital setting. Journal of
psychiatric and mental health nursing, 20(4), pp.374-378.
Roberts, M.H., Sim, M.R., Black, O. and Smith, P., 2015. Occupational injury risk among
ambulance officers and paramedics compared with other healthcare workers in Victoria,
Australia: analysis of workers’ compensation claims from 2003 to 2012. Occup Environ Med,
pp.oemed-2014.
Scully, P.J., 2011. Taking care of staff: A comprehensive model of support for paramedics and
emergency medical dispatchers. Traumatology, 17(4), pp.35-42.
Sofianopoulos, S., Williams, B., Archer, F. and Thompson, B., 2011. The exploration of physical
fatigue, sleep and depression in paramedics: a pilot study. Australasian Journal of
Paramedicine, 9(1).
Waxman, A. and Williams, B., 2015. Paramedic pre-employment education and the concerns of
our future: What are our expectations?. Australasian Journal of Paramedicine, 4(4).
Williams, B., Onsman, A. and Brown, T., 2010. Is the Australian paramedic discipline a full
profession?. Australasian Journal of Paramedicine, 8(1).

PARAMEDICS IN AUSTRALIA 10
Williams, B., Onsman, A. and Brown, T., 2010. The changing Australian healthcare landscape:
implications for paramedics. Journal of Paramedic Practice, 2(12), pp.580-584.