This essay will discuss the issues surrounding professionalism, communication and ethics that affect Paramedics during their interaction with patients in the course of their work. It should also help to demonstrate my understanding of the various codes of conduct and laws that affect Paramedics and allow me to demonstrate how these can be used to support and form a decision in relation to either a patient’s treatment or welfare whilst maintaining a professional standard at all times. For the purposes of this essay I will be analysing scenario 1 which concerns an 80 year old female who has fallen in her own home (see appendix 1).
A patient’s ability to make an informed decision in respect to the treatment or care that is available to them …show more content…
The ability to be able to communicate effectively is considered a vital skill that is required by all Paramedics (Aehlert 2013) as without it Paramedics would be unable to extract the required information from patients thus being unable to inform patients of the suggestions or decisions relating to their care (Gregory and Mursell …show more content…
One method of communication that could be used in this case would be Schramm model of communication which suggests that the way in which information is communicated is vitally important, and that the information being communicated is of no use unless the person receiving that information is able to interpret and understand it and therefore able to respond in an appropriate manner (McQuail and Windhall 1993). The Schramm model also suggests that the best way for the communicator to interpret whether their communication has been understood or not is to receive feedback from the recipient (McQuail and Windhall 1993). The Paramedic in the case of this elderly female needs to ascertain how she came to fall to the floor, how the bruising on her arms came about and then also the extent and cause of the pain within her hip and in order for them to achieve this they would be required to undertake a thorough history. The process of taking a history involves the use of extensive questioning (Jenkins 2013) and if this is not done at a level in which the patient can understand; such as the over use of medical terminology, then the history taking would not be effective as the patient would be unable to understand the
A patient’s ability to make an informed decision in respect to the treatment or care that is available to them …show more content…
The ability to be able to communicate effectively is considered a vital skill that is required by all Paramedics (Aehlert 2013) as without it Paramedics would be unable to extract the required information from patients thus being unable to inform patients of the suggestions or decisions relating to their care (Gregory and Mursell …show more content…
One method of communication that could be used in this case would be Schramm model of communication which suggests that the way in which information is communicated is vitally important, and that the information being communicated is of no use unless the person receiving that information is able to interpret and understand it and therefore able to respond in an appropriate manner (McQuail and Windhall 1993). The Schramm model also suggests that the best way for the communicator to interpret whether their communication has been understood or not is to receive feedback from the recipient (McQuail and Windhall 1993). The Paramedic in the case of this elderly female needs to ascertain how she came to fall to the floor, how the bruising on her arms came about and then also the extent and cause of the pain within her hip and in order for them to achieve this they would be required to undertake a thorough history. The process of taking a history involves the use of extensive questioning (Jenkins 2013) and if this is not done at a level in which the patient can understand; such as the over use of medical terminology, then the history taking would not be effective as the patient would be unable to understand the