Whanganui paramedic to study overseas healthcare models

Andrew Prescott is off to the USA, Canada and England to see how some hospitals use paramedics in multi-discipline teams.

Whanganui intensive care paramedic Andrew Prescott believes using paramedics in hospital-based roles could be a partial solution to New Zealand's healthcare challenges.

Mr Prescott has been awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship to look at overseas models of care that use paramedics within hospitals alongside doctors and nurses. He will visit hospitals in Troy, New York (United States), Halifax, Novia Scotia (Canada) and London (England) for four weeks in May/June next year.

"They all have established programmes where they use paramedics within the emergency department," Mr Prescott said.

"The scope of how they use them varies. The American model is the most restrictive and the paramedic is more a glorified healthcare assistant, while the Canadian model is the most progressive where the paramedics work with doctors doing things that are new and exciting.

"The New Zealand health system faces a number of future challenges, primarily due to an increasing population and increasing rates of chronic disease. These challenges may be compounded by a projected shortage of doctors and nurses. A shortage of nurses is of particular concern as they are the largest occupational group within our health system.

"We have an ageing nurse workforce and we need to look at new ways of doing things. We have relied on immigration but we are competing with other countries and we don't pay as much so we need to figure out alternatives."

A partial solution to a future nursing shortage could be to use paramedics in hospital-based roles, not as a replacement for nurses but in a complementary role as part of a multi-disciplined medical and nursing team.

""In the private sector, you see paramedics working in non-traditional roles," Mr Prescott said.

"The role and capabilities of paramedics has evolved tremendously in the last couple of decades. Twenty years ago ambulance staff received industry-based training that could be measured in weeks. Modern paramedics are true health professionals and need an undergraduate Bachelor of Health Science (Paramedic) degree. Intensive care paramedics need a postgraduate qualification."

The study findings will be compiled into a report, circulated within the New Zealand healthcare system and Mr Prescott will make presentations at an Australasian paramedics conference.

Mr Prescott has been employed by St John for 24 years, 20 as a full-time staff member and four as a volunteer. He has spent the past seven years in Whanganui after working in Dunedin, Queenstown and Auckland. He also spent a year working as an intensive care paramedic at a liquid natural gas plant in Western Australia and completed three stints as an intensive care paramedic supporting the Australian Federal Police in the Solomon Islands. He holds a number of paramedic qualifications, including a Master of Emergency Heath (Paramedic) degree from Monash University in Melbourne. This year he completed a Master of Emergency Management degree through Massey University.

The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust of New Zealand is administered by the Department of Internal Affairs. It awards a number of fellowships every year to allow New Zealanders to travel overseas to learn from others and study topics that will advance their occupation, trade, industry, profession or community and benefit New Zealand.