Wanted: Photos of ECPs in action are rare due to restrictions on patient confidentiality. If you have any photos that I could use on the site I would very much appreciate it. Please send them to mike.bjarkoy@nhs.net thank you

Introduction

Emergency Care Practitioners (Paramedic Practitioners) This is an independent site and has no affiliation with any ambulance service. This site is targeted to all paramedics, emergency care practitioners and paramedic practitioners who wish to publish on the internet. Any references made to your Ambulance Service MUST be authorised by local policy.

The site is also here for you to tell the rest of the UK what you are doing in your local area. What skills you are allowed to practice, which drugs you can prescribe and administer. What pathways you have set up and any innovations you wish to share with the rest of the ECP/Paramedic Practitioner community.

So... any paramedic practitioner out there who would like their essays published - send them to me and I will be happy to do it for you. Please be aware that none of the articles on this site are peer reviewed unless stated. If any articles have been peer reviewed, I will ensure that a statement exists which identifies the journal the article was reviewed by. Please Note: You must get permission from your ambulance service to publish on this site - if they have supported the paper/project.

 The Primary role of the Paramedic Practitioner may vary but it has a basic remit of the delivery of unscheduled care to patients in the community by the right health care professional.

The scope of the ECP usually covers (but is not limited to) the following:

• Administering medications within the remit of local PGD.
• Prescribing medications to patients in line with local PGD.
• Working within agreed scope of practice
• Ordering x-rays and requesting further investigations
• Take a holistic approach to patient care, bringing together their medical, social and psychological needs
• Encouraging the promotion of health education in the community
• Treating minor illness and minor injury within an unscheduled care environment
• Referring patients to alternative health and social services
• Break down existing professional boundaries and encourage collaboration.
• Empowering patients to take responsibility for managing their own care and treatment where it is safe and appropriate to do so
• Encouragement of direct referrals greater direct communications with specialities
• Undertaking an in-depth patient examination and assessment beyond existing JRCALC guidelines
• Identifying and providing alternative care pathways for the provision of emergency care
• Undertake audit and research be personally responsible for self directed learning

Unlike some EMS systems in the world which work to protocols, UK Paramedics work to 'guidelines' which have been written by the Joint Royal Colleges Ambulance Liaison Committee (JRCALC) to allow Paramedics to treat patients to the full scope of the guidelines without physician approval on an incident by incident basis. Beyond the normal scope of UK Paramedic practice the practitioners are trained by Universities to apply a treat & release and treat & refer patient care.

The education takes on various forms. There are degree programmes which range from 2 to 4 years and there is now a more popular 8 month full time course (16 weeks theory and 16 weeks practical consolidation period.) Much of the evolving area of prehospital care is being based on Evidence Based Medicine (EBM). All the practitioners are writing essays and dissertations based upon existing or perceived future working practice. Much of what is being written is not being read in the public domain as such we are not learning from shared experiences as a professional body. This site actively encourages ECPs and Paramedics in the UK to include their work for internet publication.

We are persistently looking for evidence from other paramedics and prehospital trials with little success and so we are relying on evidence produced from doctors and nurses. There is a lack of published paramedic research in the UK. Many of the big journals have a heavy input from people who are more in line with the journals aims and objectives. We (UK EMS personnel) only have a couple of journals of our own in the UK and they are not specifically targeted to research. The concepts, aims and objectives of this web site is to encourage paramedics and in particular paramedic practitioner research.

Each ECP or Paramedic Practitioner has the option to have their own page in which to publish their essays, scope of practice and clinical pathways that they are opening up. I am hoping to forge stronger links with practitioner programmes all over the world with a view to exchange visits and information. However, initially I want those paramedics who are currently producing research which is not being seen in the public domain to contribute. In time I believe the NHS will give us evidence based medicine web site to help us evolve. This is a dynamic, evolving area of emergency care which has a bright future.