PARA325 - Paramedicine Care: High Acuity and Major Incidents

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

For BP: PARA227 Paramedicine in Practice: Medical 2 OR PARA211 Paramedic Practice: Medical 2

For BNBP: PARA227 Paramedicine in Practice: Medical 2 OR PARA213 Paramedic Theory and Practice: Medical 2

Unit rationale, description and aim

Contemporary paramedicine requires that the clinician has comprehensive knowledge and the skills that are necessary to provide care for those affected by high acuity, time sensitive, life-threatening and or major incident aetiologies. To achieve this, the PARA325 unit will link theory with practice in order to identify, respond and provide care for those individuals and communities affected by critical injury, illness and or major incidents. The unit consolidates an aspect of students learning and practice, which has been developed since PARA114 and PARA115, with the focus on emergency care. Students will be able to see the direct relationship to previous units by building on prior experience to solve complex and acute challenges. Students engagement will explore and refine understanding and skills in human factors, leadership, traumatology, environmental emergencies, specialised resuscitation and major incidents. These aspects will be further extended by applying paramedic decision-making to difficult environments, multiple acute patients and various cooperating stakeholders. The aim of this unit is to ensure that students are effective in providing care to individuals and communities affected by high acuity and major incident aetiologies. 

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Outline the epidemiology, pathophysiology, implications, assessment, risks, health care pathways, and people-centred management of individuals, populations and communities for traumatic and high-acuity aetiologies (GA5, GA8)

LO2 - Discuss the principles of the disaster management cycle, leadership, teamwork, risk analysis and mitigation, and the roles and responsibilities of paramedics and emergency services within the cycle (GA2, GA3, GA9, GA10)

LO3 - Apply a paramedic decision-making model that incorporates therapeutic, leadership, teamwork skills and a systems approach to provide care for individuals, populations and or communities effected by traumatic, high acuity and or major incident aetiologies (GA1, GA3, GA5, GA6, GA7, GA8, GA10)

LO4 - Evaluate the application of a paramedic decision-making model that incorporates therapeutic, leadership, teamwork skills and a systems approach to provide care for individuals, populations and or communities effected by traumatic, high acuity and or major incident aetiologies (GA2, GA4)

Graduate attributes

GA1 - demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual and for human diversity

GA2 - recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society 

GA3 - apply ethical perspectives in informed decision making

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA6 - solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account

GA7 - work both autonomously and collaboratively 

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

GA9 - demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media 

GA10 - utilise information and communication and other relevant technologies effectively.

Professional Capabilities for a Registered Paramedic

The Paramedicine Board of Australia is responsible for assessing, consulting on and setting the standards for paramedics practicing in Australia. These standards and relevant domains are articulated in the Professional Capabilities for a Registered Paramedic document. The learning outcomes of this unit are matched to the relevant capabilities, in order to align your development with the requirements of a paramedic.  

National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (Second Edition)

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care Standards developed in this unit are:

Content

Topics will include:

Principles, management and care of:

• Body system related trauma
• Environmental emergencies
• Kinetic energy aetiologies

Resuscitation

• Traumatic
• Environmental
• Special populations
• Ceasing resuscitation
• The future of resuscitation

Special populations

• Obstetric
• Paediatric
• Geriatric
• People with mental illness
• Culturally safe practice

Human factors in high acuity and major incidents;

• Leadership styles
• Team structures
• Mitigating cognitive errors
• Communicating in high acuity and major incidents
• Safety and self-care

Response Systems

• Interagency
• Retrieval 
• Rescue

Major Incidents

• Disaster Management Cycle
• Interprofessional practice with emergency agencies
• Triage
• Mass gatherings
• Chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear incidents
• Terrorism

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

PARA325 Paramedicine Care: High Acuity and Major Incidents provides teaching and learning strategies that engage students with materials, concepts and experiences that will support the achievement of the aims and objectives of the Unit as well as relevant Graduate Attributes and professional capabilities.

Usually situated in the third year, PARA325 continues to build upon skills of becoming both an independent and social learner. Delivery methods will be multi-modal and comprised of virtual/online environments and face to face workshops.

Online learning will assist in acquiring the fundamental theoretical concepts necessary for paramedicine. The information, delivery and exercises will be constructed in digestible portions which will allow for ease of understanding, flexibility and respect for individual learning styles. As students begin to apply the concepts in the subsequent workshops and practical laboratories, it is expected that they will have completed the online learnings before attending the face-to-face component.

The workshops will allow students to use the fundamental concepts acquired from online learning, apply analytical thinking, and engage in discussion and group work so they can begin to solve the case-based challenges posed. These challenges are designed with a real-world focus to apply knowledge to relevant clinical contexts. As students’ progress through the cycle of theory to practice, the online learning and workshops will have a direct relationship to practical classes. 

Practical classes will allow students to experiment with concepts developed during throughout the unit. Cases and management plans discussed and created in workshops will be further explored and refined by providing the opportunity to develop and enact skills, paramedic clinical decision making, communication strategies and attributes of teamwork. Varying levels of realism will engage senses to advance psychomotor, emotional, social and cognitive skills. Within the practical class environment, methods of learning may include skills stations, role-play, facilitated scenarios and simulations, peer-to-peer learning, audio and visual practice recordings analysis, and/or structured feedback and debriefs.

As the practice of paramedicine relies heavily on social interaction and cooperation, it is expected that students will emulate this within the learning environments.

It is expected that students will undertake a total 150 hours of study for this unit. The hours will comprise of the face-to-face methods, online learning and self-directed study in which they will engage with a range of online resources, readings, and prepare for and/or undertake assessments.

Assessment strategy and rationale

A range of assessment items consistent with University assessment requirements and policy will be used to ensure students achieve the unit learning outcomes, attain the graduate attributes and the meet professional capabilities required in paramedicine. With the ethos that assessments support and guide learning, to understand a direct relationship between each task and student development.

The digital media task builds on previous assessment by further assimilating and analysing key concepts pertinent within paramedicine. It’s context will be centred around real-world problems to enable a deeper understanding of the profession and practice, while developing digital communication and critical thinking skills. This enables the creation of knowledge and solutions that will be directly relatable to paramedicine.

The practice portfolio will enable students to showcase and reflect on practice throughout the unit. Authentic tasks and requirements within the practice portfolio with be targeted to the learning outcomes of the unit and stage of development. The practice portfolio will provide a strong foundation to transition in becoming a graduate paramedic.

The exam allows students to showcase a broad understand of the knowledge inherent in this unit and its specific application within a professional context. The exam guides students to acquire the key concepts of high acuity aetiologies that will be applicable and required for the subsequent assessment task and practice.   

To pass this unit, students are required to achieve all learning outcomes and gain an aggregate mark of 50%.

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Curtis, K., & Ramsden, C. (2019). Emergency and trauma care for nurses and paramedics (3rd ed.). Chatswood, NSW: Elsevier Australia.

Talley, N.J. & O’Connor, S. (2018). Talley & O’Connor’s Clinical Examination. (8th ed.). Volumes 1 and 2. Chatswood, NSW: Elsevier.

Townsend, R., & Luck, M. (2019). Applied paramedic law and ethics (2nd ed.). Australia and New Zealand. Sydney: Elsevier.