Paramedics

The Problematic Autonomy of Australia's Paramedics

The paramedic is a critical contributor to the effectiveness of Australia's collective healthcare system as well as of the numerous states that comprise the nation. As critical first-responders endowed with the skills, knowledge and training to provide onsite emergency and acute treatment either prior to or while transporting a patient to a hospital facility, paramedics are essential to the protection of the public health. And yet, few healthcare professions remain as hazily defined, poorly represented or shabbily treated as Australia's paramedics. As the discussion here below will demonstrate, this condition is largely a product of the fact that the occupation is allowed to operate relatively independently from the licensure, certification and centralized oversight that mark the career development of other healthcare service professions. This definitional limbo is a major cause for the long-standing absence of consistency for a qualified and state-sanctioned paramedic as...
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