The sad death of a much loved Pioneer
Your Opinion
Should all Paramedics be able to refer patients to other professional services without taking them to the ED
Peter Baskett - Pioneer of Paramedic training
Peter Baskett, one of the first doctors to pursue actively the start of Paramedic training for the UK ambulance service has died after a long illness.
"We are sad to inform you that Peter Baskett passed away peacefully, in the company of his family, at Frenchay Hospital on Friday 18 April after a prolonged illness.
A private family funeral will be held, and a Service of Thanksgiving will take place at a later date to be announced. "
CURRICULUM GUIDANCE AND COMPETENCE FRAMEWORK 2008
The Curriculum Guidance and Competence Framework for the profession has
now been completed and is available for purchase. Ambulance Trusts,
Universities and other organizations or institutions can purchase the
book direct from the College of Paramedics for the price £25.00 per
copy plus carriage.College (BPA) members are able to purchase a copy for £10.00 plus carriage and this offer is limited to one copy per paid up member.
Books can be obtained by telephone on 01332746356 or by email to:
Curriculum08@britishparamedic.org
If requesting by email please include a telephone number in order for us to contact and take payment. Invoices can be sent with orders.
__________________________________________________________________
Curriculum Framework Review 2007
In 2006 the British Paramedic Association published the first curriculum guidance for the ambulance profession. This document is now undergoing a review to ensure its continued fitness for purpose. Since its publication much has occurred in the ambulance world including implementation of Taking Healthcare to the Patient, Merger of Trusts, The Emergency Care Assistant concept, Skills for Health competency and health functional map and New JRCALC guidelines.
All new Health Professions Council paramedic programmes in this country need to refer to the Curriculum Guidance as outlined in the HPC Standards of Education and Training to gain approval.
'Standard 4.2 - The programme must reflect the philosophy, values, skills and knowledge base as articulated in the curriculum guidance for the profession.'
We have been holding a number of symposium events to gather information from Higher Education Institutes, Trusts and other stakeholders and we would also like your views on the current curriculum guidance
http://www.britishparamedic.org/curriculum-framework/
What would you change? Is it fit for purpose?
To have your say please contribute to the forum. Curriculum Framework review forum
John Martin
Education and Training group
Emergency Care in the Streets UK Edition
UK Edition has arrived to take us "On the Road to Care"
REMINDER OF SPECIAL OFFER TO BPA MEMBERS
The special offer made to BPA members for a 10% reduction in the price of the Nancy Caroline text book (UK Version) Emergency Care in the Streets and all other Jones & Bartlett publications.
You can order the UK version of Emergency Care in the Streets at the discounted price of £44.99 (10%) including delivery.
DO NOT MISS THIS GREAT OPPORTUNITY AND OWN ONE OF THE MOST SOUGHT
AFTER BOOKS IN PARAMEDIC AND AMBULANCE EDUCATION, PREPARED FOR THE UK BY
YOUR PROFESSIONAL BODY.
If you would like to place your order, then contact Jones & Bartlett on 01278723553. You will be asked to quote your BPA membership number, which will be checked to validate that you are a fully paid up member of the BPA in order to qualify for the discount.
Writing for publication in the EMJ
The Emergency Medicine Journal (EMJ) is keen to encourage more ambulance professionals to submit papers for consideration for publication. To encourage this, we have launched a new series - Reflections on Pre-hospital Care. It is often said that hindsight has 20:20 vision, and so this type of article aims to use real incidents attended by pre-hospital providers as a basis for critiquing practice and facilitating learning - either by suggesting better ways a patient or incident could have been managed or to confirm that, after reflection, a difficult incident was dealt with appropriately. Almost all students who have completed or are undertaking a first degree in paramedic sciences will have been taught the reflective process and will probably have produced an assignment based on reflection - these would form the ideal basis for an article for the EMJ. However, all ambulance professionals practice self criticism in their drive to improve their patient care, and this too can be developed into a suitable article.
Each article should follow the following format:
- Start with a brief description of the incident or patient and their management. This section should not exceed 250 words.
- Follow with a critique of up to 500 words that may be based on a reflective model or ethical framework (although this is by no means essential).
- Authors must ensure that patients, colleagues, and organisations are not identifiable. Maximum total word count: 750 words with one optional illustration (if this adds to the piece) or up to 5 references.
- Articles will be selected for publication based on their utility as a vehicle for learning.
- Articles intended for this series should be submitted in the first instance to Prof Malcolm Woollard, Associate Editor for Pre-hospital Care (Malcolm.woollard@btinternet.com) - please do not submit 'Reflections' papers directly to the EMJ. Malcolm will be pleased to provide advice as to suitability of subject matter and assistance with drafting papers on request.
For an example of a structured reflective model see 'Johns C. Framing learning through reflection within Carper's fundamental ways of knowing in nursing. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 1995;22:226-234.'
The EMJ publishes a wide range of articles, including evidence-based reviews, original research, and educational papers. We welcome submissions from ambulance professionals in any of these formats: for further information see the instructions for authors at http://emj.bmjjournals.com. If you would like to discuss a possible paper informally or need further advice, please contact Malcolm Woollard, Associate Editor for Pre-hospital Care, at Malcolm.woollard@btinternet.com
Latest News
Professional Indemnity Insurance and medico-legal support
For sometime, the BPA has been aware of the need for its members to have access to affordable professional indemnity cover to cover their private paramedic work.
We are pleased that following discussions with the leading defence body for UK doctors, the Medical Defence Union (the MDU), BPA members can now for the first time apply for membership of the MDU.
MDU membership includes a £5 million professional indemnity insurance policy, underwritten by Converium Insurance (UK) Limited, to cover negligence claims arising from a paramedic's private clinical work*, as well as access to a range of other valuable services to support paramedics in both their private and NHS activities. These extra services can include access to medico-legal advice via a freephone helpline 24 hours a day in addition to legal advice and representation at HPC or inquests.
While the BPA is not acting as an introducer to MDU membership and receives no commission, we have negotiated a favourable subscription discount for our members who apply to join the MDU. The subscriptions for BPA members joining the MDU up to 31/3/08 are:
- Up to 10 days of private work £390
- 11-50 days of private work £725
- Over 50 days of private work/full-time private £1,115
Please note, benefits of membership of the MDU relate to matters arising from the provision of professional paramedic services and do not cover employment-related issues which are addressed through membership of a trades union.
To find out more about MDU membership, visit the MDU website at: www.the-mdu.com/paramedics
* subject to the terms and conditions of the policy
Information for Emergency Care Practitioners
There has been a great deal of discussion with Skills for Health
and the ECP leads group on the subject of registration and professional
support for the developing Emergency Care Practitioner. The BPA have
always supported the development of Emergency Care Practitioners and
through our website and other arenas we have given an honest and open
view of the progression for this part of your profession and its impact
on further scope of practice and patient care. please click on the
following link to read a news article giving a direct perspective on
the view and support from the BPA for this important development.
Chairman's Thoughts
CPD guide - have you got yours?
By now all registered Paramedics should have received a copy of 'Your guide to our standards for continuing professional development'
If you have any questions regarding CPD, please do not hesitate to contact the BPA. You can also see the HPC website for more information on CPD at: www.hpc-uk.org/registrants/cpd/
Review of the standards of proficiency
The standards of proficiency for Paramedics are the threshold standards considered necessary for the safe and effective practise of registered Paramedics. The HPC have set generic standards, which are the same for every profession, as well as profession-specific standards for Paramedics.
Working with HPC Paramedic visitors the HPC approve education programmes to make sure that they allow students to meet these standards when they graduate. Many BPA members are involved in this vital role.
If an applicant meets these standards they are eligible to be registered on the appropriate section of the register. Should a registrant's competence is called into question the HPC will look at these standards in deciding whether they need to take any action.
Every time a Paramedic who is registered with the HPC renews their registration, they will ask them to sign a declaration to confirm that they continue to meet the standards of proficiency which apply to them.
Time for review
In October last year the HPC started to review the standards of proficiency to make sure that they were working, and that they continued to reflect current practice as experienced by registrants, employers, educators and others. They established a professional liaison group (PLG) which included registrant and lay Council members and representatives from professional bodies. The group met five times and considered a variety of evidence about how the standards were working.
The group's recommendations were considered by the HPC Council on 6 July 2006 and the HPC will soon be consulting on the new proposed standards.
Example of a change
This is an example of a proposed change to the generic standards. This incorporates standard 1a.5 in the existing standards. The new standards are shown in bold.
Although standard 1a is headed 'professional autonomy and accountability' they felt that they needed to emphasise that registrants should be able to work as autonomous professionals who are personally responsible for their decisions.
1a.6: be able to practise as an autonomous professional, exercising their own professional judgement
be able to assess a situation, determine the nature and severity of the problem and call upon the required knowledge and experience to deal with the problem
- be able to initiate resolution of problems and be able to exercise personal initiative
- know the limits of their practice and when to seek advice or refer to another professional
- recognise that they are personally responsible for and must be able to justify their decisions.
Your comments
They will soon be consulting on the proposed new standards for a period of three months and would welcome your comments. They will send a copy of the consultation document to everybody on the HPC consultation list. The document will also be available on the HPC website and in hard copy on request.