PARAMEDICS, RESEARCHERS AND WORKFORCE ANALYSTS GATHER LANDMARK PARAMEDICINE WORKFORCE DATASET Inaugural report into Australasian Paramedicine Workforce Survey report to aid workforce planning
INTERVIEWS
Dr Liz Thyer, Associate Professor in Paramedicine
School of Health Sciences, Western Sydney University &
Chief Investigator Australasian Paramedicine Workforce Survey Report 2023-2024
Alecka Miles, Community Paramedic, Dianella Family Medical Centre (WA)
Lecturer Edith Cowan University &
PhD Student Western Sydney University
John Bruning, Chief Executive Officer
Australasian College of Paramedicine
SEGMENT
Filmed in Campbelltown (NSW), Perth & Sydney | December 2024
In a milestone for paramedicine, the Australasian College of Paramedicine earlier this year released the first report of a landmark three-year study identifying and exploring trends that affect the Australasian paramedicine workforce.
The inaugural Australasian Paramedicine Workforce Survey report 2023-24 explores the demographic, career trajectory, work motivations and conditions for those working in clinical, management and educational capacities within the paramedicine workforce of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
The survey findings reveal new insights into the current and future state of the paramedicine workforce across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand and provide governments and decision-makers with crucial knowledge and evidence to better inform workforce planning.
In 2022, the College commissioned Associate Professor Liz Thyer, from Western Sydney University (WSU), as Chief Investigator to lead a team of sixteen academics and researchers from WSU, Edith Cowan University (ECU) and Auckland University of Technology (AUT). Alecka Miles (ECU) and Dr Graham Howie (AUT) led the teams from their respective universities.
Australian Health Journal spoke with Associate Professor Liz Thyer, Alecka Miles and John Bruning, Chief Executive Officer for the Australasian College of Paramedicine about the survey and the inaugural report.
Assoc Prof Liz Thyer said: “Our team includes paramedics, researchers and workforce analysts enabling us to develop a survey that gets to the core of the paramedic profession. These insights can then be used to make a better, well-supported workforce for current paramedics and those studying to enter the profession.”
The data contained in this report will assist the College, and the broader paramedicine healthcare sector, in workforce planning. As health reform across Australasia looks to more broadly engage paramedics in multidisciplinary team-based models, the survey findings aim to support all employers of paramedics in better understanding the needs of their workforce, ultimately enhancing the quality of care provided to communities across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
Also captured in this segment from the College’s ACPIC conference in Sydney in September 2024 include Lucy Oatley ASM (Conference Master of Ceremonies), Intensive Care Flight Paramedic and Jemma Altmeier, Advocacy and Government Relations Manager, Australasian College of Paramedicine.
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Inaugural vaccine value chain conference talks about Team Australia
For the first time, key decision-makers and thought leaders from government, industry, academia, NGOs, and representatives from the immunisation community converged in a 2 day conference in Sydney hosted by Biointelect, highlighting the transformative potential of collaborative innovation.
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Unleashing the potential of Paramedic skills and knowledge
According to a prominent paramedicine academic and researcher, paramedics have the potential to provide much-needed care in the community, changing the traditional healthcare model. Research points to paramedics having a wider healthcare workforce impact based on their ability to identify and fix problems 24/7.
Dr. Brendan Shannon is Head of Postgraduate Programs in the Department of Paramedicine at Monash University and a member of The Australasian College of Paramedicine. His interests including refining healthcare models, to ensure underserved communities receive requisite care. These alternative care pathways, like outreach programs, can work out of hospitals to provide care in underserved communities with social and complex chronic conditions.
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HIGHLIGHTS The power of social determinants of health, panel discussion
Clinicians and consumers know only too well that life circumstances such as poor housing, income and food insecurity can have a negative impact on health outcomes. Conversely, participation in community activities, social connection and access to nature parks and leisure facilities can help maintain health and wellbeing.
More recent phenomena in public health have also focused us on the health and social care connection. Stress factors such as the sudden loss of employment and social interaction, moving to remote work or schooling, and the impacts of sudden, localised COVID-19 ‘lockdowns’ to prevent further outbreaks were triggers of increased psychological distress.
And loneliness is being described as our latest epidemic with chronic loneliness inked to a myriad of health problems and earlier death. A recent report found one in four Australians say they feel persistently lonely, and that loneliness costs $2.7 bn a year in health costs alone.
