DIARY OF A PARAMEDIC IN A PRIMARY HEALTH CARE CLINIC Examining the attributes and practices of paramedics working in primary health care contexts
With
Alecka Miles, Lecturer
Edith Cowan University, Western Australia &
Community Paramedic,
Dianella Family Medical Centre, Western Australia
PEOPLE IN HEALTH CARE SEGMENT
Filmed in Perth, Western Australia | October 2025
Alecka Miles is a lecturer at Edith Cowan University and works as a paramedic in a multidisciplinary team at Dianella Family Medical Centre in Metropolitan Perth, Western Australia.
Community paramedic roles have a history in Australia, dating back to 2007 in New South Wales and followed by similar initiatives in South Australia and New Zealand. Alecka’s position emerged after she sought to evaluate how paramedics could integrate into general practice, ultimately leading to a job offer post-COVID lockdown in 2020. Her skills, particularly in cannulation, proved valuable as healthcare shifted towards primary care.
In her role, Alecka conducts community health assessments, providing insights from her paramedic background. She notes a significant learning curve, having expanded her role far beyond her initial experiences in ambulance services.
Alecka’s research aims to explore the practices and demographic characteristics of paramedics working in primary healthcare contexts in Australia and New Zealand.
At Dianella, she collaborates with nurses and other healthcare professionals, emphasising patient-centred and holistic care. Their teamwork is characterised by mutual respect and recognition of each other’s strengths, fostering a supportive environment for managing both urgent care and chronic disease management.
Australian Health Journal spoke to her about her day to day experience in general practice.
Source: Written from transcript
Footage credit: ACPIC24, Australasian College of Paramedicine
-
Enhancing occupational therapy service provision with military veterans
Almost half a million Australians have served with the Australian Defence Force. Given the high prevalence of physical and mental health conditions and complexity of civilian life adjustment after military service, high-quality occupational therapy services are critical. However, there is limited description of occupational therapy service provision to individuals funded by the Australian Department of Veterans’ Affairs to inform government policy.
A cross-sectional study, led by Professor Carol McKinstry, Professor of Occupational Therapy and Deputy Dean with La Trobe University’s Rural Health School at the Bendigo campus has used an online survey to collect information from occupational therapists providing services to Department of Veterans’ Affairs clients.
-
Australian Healthcare Week 2019: Pitch Fest Finalist Coviu
Telelheath startup company Coviu was a Pitch Fest Finalist at last week’s Australian Healthcare Week Expo in Sydney. The Coviu platform has been developed as an spinoff from CSIRO and allows healthcare businesses offer video consultations to their own patients. It differs from being just a ‘talking head’ platform that Skype or Zoom could offer, by providing clinical tools integrated within the app. Anne Dao spoke with Co-founder and CEO Silvia Pfeiffer about the company and platform’s journey to date and its longer term goals.
Coviu helps healtcare businesses by helping fit in more consultation during that day and reducing no-shows for appointments. Also given the nature of the dispersed population, the application reaches to rural and regional areas where patients are a long distance from their healthcare provider. The company is focused on the Australian market and aims to enter the US market next year
-
Alfred Hospital leading in pharmacy services for critically unwell patients
Cristina Roman, is the Lead Pharmacist at Alfred Emergency Trauma Centre. In her 12 years working in the Emergency Department, Cristina has established pharmacy services, and filled gaps in patient care with new models of care.
One of those models of care adopted by the US and other countries, is involving pharmacists for critically unwell patients that present to the emergency department.
Australian Health Journal spoke with Cristina Roman and Lisa Bremner, Advanced Training Resident Pharmacist at Alfred Hospital Emergency Trauma Centre.
