Review of the standards of proficiency
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.
Sat, 14th June 2008