The Paramedicine Accreditation Committee carried out public consultation on its draft proposed accreditation standards for Paramedicine.
For more information about the draft proposed accreditation standards please see the Paramedicine Accreditation Standards consultation webinar.
Released: 20 December 2019 Closes: 13 March 2020
The Accreditation Committee consulted on its draft proposed accreditation standards, and sought feedback from education providers, practitioners, other stakeholders and the community.
The Accreditation Committee held a series of information sessions across Australia during February 2020 as part of a public consultation on the Paramedicine Accreditation Standards.
The information sessions provided details about the role of the Accreditation Committee and the draft proposed Accreditation Standards including the process for the development of the standards, key proposed changes and the structure of the standards.
The webinar below was recorded at the Melbourne information session on 5 February 2020 for those who were unable to attend.
The main difference between the draft proposed Accreditation Standards: Paramedicine and the Council of Ambulance Authority (CAA) accreditation standards is that the draft proposed Accreditation Standards reflect an outcome-focussed approach.
The five domains reflect the structure initiated by the Australian Dental Council and adopted by nine other professions. The Accreditation Committee has structured the Accreditation Standards within these five domains to enhance consistency across the National Scheme and reduce the regulatory burden for education providers.
Assuring safe practice is central to draft proposed Accreditation Standard 1 and is paramount in the design, implementation and monitoring of paramedicine programs. The draft proposed Accreditation Standards require that formal mechanisms exist to ensure students in the program are fit to practise safely at all times (Accreditation Standard 1.2). This includes all aspects of safe practice, including, but not limited to workplace health and safety; manual handling; infection prevention and control; and mental health.
The draft proposed Accreditation Standards recognise that graduates of paramedicine programs of study need a working knowledge of factors that contribute to and influence the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. These factors include history, spirituality, relationship to land and other social determinants of health in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
The draft proposed Accreditation Standards recognise that cultural safety is determined by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals, families and communities and that, in order to ensure culturally safe and respectful practice, health practitioners must:
In addition, the draft proposed Accreditation Standards state:
The Accreditation Committee expects that students are given extensive and diverse work-integrated learning experiences in a range of settings with a range of patients/clients and clinical presentations.
The Accreditation Committee considers that direct patient/client encounters throughout the program will help ensure students achieve the professional capabilities needed by paramedics. Education providers are expected to explain how the entire range of work-integrated learning experiences will ensure graduates achieve the professional capabilities.
The Accreditation Committee expects the education provider to engage with practitioners acting as work integrated learning supervisors. The examples of engagement supplied by the education provider should show work-integrated learning supervisors have an opportunity to give feedback to the education provider on students’ work-integrated learning experiences.
Examples of how student learning outcomes will be measured are included throughout the draft proposed Accreditation Standards. In the Assessment domain for example, draft proposed Accreditation Standards. In the assessment domain, draft proposed Accreditation Standard 5.2 states:
The draft Accreditation Standards will be updated following consideration of your feedback and considered by the Accreditation Committee in April 2020. From there, it is anticipated that approval will be sought from the Paramedicine Board of Australia in mid-2020, for implementation in the second half of the year.