Communities entrust their health and safety to paramedics when they are in their most vulnerable state, it is for that primary reason paramedics should be subjected to professional registration - to protect the public. Currently, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (APHRA) is responsible for overseeing the registration requirements of health professionals within Australia (AHPRA, YEAR). AHPRA’s paramount objective is to maintain public safety by ensuring only health practitioners who are appropriately trained and qualified to practice in a competent and ethical manner are registered (Victorian Government, 2009). Of note, unlike the other health professionals, at present paramedics are not subject to any annual registration
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Over the course of the 90’s paramedicine slowly transitioned to a university course in response to the expanding role. Ambulance services have evolved from providing a simple mode of emergency transport to a provider of definitive care; to currently being a technical field of health providing pre-hospital assessment, diagnoses and treatment. Changes in the roles and skills performed by paramedics have resulted in the development of paramedicine becoming its own entity, with its own separate body of knowledge and skills, which is distinctively different to that of other health professionals (Townsend, 2016). Whilst research based knowledge specific to pre-hospital care is currently limited, nonetheless, it is rapidly expanding with the realisation that early care and interventions can drastically alter patient outcomes. Registration would be an acknowledgment of pre-hospital care is a distinct entity in its own right and open the professional channels to further development of the industry. In addition, registration would ensure that despite the mode of education and training, that all registered paramedics have the same base knowledge, skill set, scope of practice which would adhere to the values and
Over the course of the 90’s paramedicine slowly transitioned to a university course in response to the expanding role. Ambulance services have evolved from providing a simple mode of emergency transport to a provider of definitive care; to currently being a technical field of health providing pre-hospital assessment, diagnoses and treatment. Changes in the roles and skills performed by paramedics have resulted in the development of paramedicine becoming its own entity, with its own separate body of knowledge and skills, which is distinctively different to that of other health professionals (Townsend, 2016). Whilst research based knowledge specific to pre-hospital care is currently limited, nonetheless, it is rapidly expanding with the realisation that early care and interventions can drastically alter patient outcomes. Registration would be an acknowledgment of pre-hospital care is a distinct entity in its own right and open the professional channels to further development of the industry. In addition, registration would ensure that despite the mode of education and training, that all registered paramedics have the same base knowledge, skill set, scope of practice which would adhere to the values and