Exploring the alignment between paramedicine's professional capabilities and competency frameworks for current and evolving scopes of practice: a literature review
Abstract Background To adequately prepare graduates for the dynamic demands of paramedic practice, adopting a contemporary educational approach is essential. This involves collaborating to identify crucial competencies through input from industry stakeholders, experienced practitioners, and discipli...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2024-01-01
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| Series: | BMC Medical Education |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04992-w |
| _version_ | 1797363171642572800 |
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| author | Anthony Weber Scott Devenish Louisa Lam |
| author_facet | Anthony Weber Scott Devenish Louisa Lam |
| author_sort | Anthony Weber |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background To adequately prepare graduates for the dynamic demands of paramedic practice, adopting a contemporary educational approach is essential. This involves collaborating to identify crucial competencies through input from industry stakeholders, experienced practitioners, and discipline-specific experts. Accreditation assumes a central role within this framework, serving as a cornerstone to ensure that paramedicine curricula align with paramedics' diverse and evolving professional roles. Methods A narrative review of the literature and a directed search of grey literature were performed to identify specific developments in paramedicine competencies and scope of practice and mapped to the professional capabilities published by the Paramedicine Board of Australia. In determining a competency map and accreditation’s role in a competency framework specific to current and evolving paramedic practice, key documents were analysed using a qualitative approach based on content analysis to identify common traits among documents, countries and other professions. Results The review process identified 278 themes that were further allocated to 22 major analytical groupings. These groupings could further be mapped to previously reported cognitive, technical, integrative, context, relationship, affective/moral competencies and habits of mind. At the same time, the highest-rated groupings were key competencies of intellectual skills, safety, accountability, clinical decision-making, professionalism, communications, team-based approach and situational awareness. Two groups were represented in the literature but not in the professional capabilities, namely Health and Social continuum and self-directed practice. Conclusions This review highlights the importance of measuring and validating the professional capabilities of Paramedicine Practitioners. The study explores various metrics and competency frameworks used to assess competency, comparing them against national accreditation schemes' professional capability standards. The findings suggest that accreditation frameworks play a crucial role in improving the quality of paramedicine practice, encompassing intellectual skills, safety, accountability, clinical decision-making, professionalism, communication, teamwork, and situational awareness. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T16:17:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-28f0d0b547ad48d58b31902f275f686d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1472-6920 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T16:17:06Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Medical Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-28f0d0b547ad48d58b31902f275f686d2024-01-07T12:30:59ZengBMCBMC Medical Education1472-69202024-01-0124111110.1186/s12909-023-04992-wExploring the alignment between paramedicine's professional capabilities and competency frameworks for current and evolving scopes of practice: a literature reviewAnthony Weber0Scott Devenish1Louisa Lam2School Business and Law | Higher Education Division, CQUniversity AustraliaSchool of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine, Faculty of Health, Australian Catholic UniversitySchool of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine, Faculty of Health, Australian Catholic UniversityAbstract Background To adequately prepare graduates for the dynamic demands of paramedic practice, adopting a contemporary educational approach is essential. This involves collaborating to identify crucial competencies through input from industry stakeholders, experienced practitioners, and discipline-specific experts. Accreditation assumes a central role within this framework, serving as a cornerstone to ensure that paramedicine curricula align with paramedics' diverse and evolving professional roles. Methods A narrative review of the literature and a directed search of grey literature were performed to identify specific developments in paramedicine competencies and scope of practice and mapped to the professional capabilities published by the Paramedicine Board of Australia. In determining a competency map and accreditation’s role in a competency framework specific to current and evolving paramedic practice, key documents were analysed using a qualitative approach based on content analysis to identify common traits among documents, countries and other professions. Results The review process identified 278 themes that were further allocated to 22 major analytical groupings. These groupings could further be mapped to previously reported cognitive, technical, integrative, context, relationship, affective/moral competencies and habits of mind. At the same time, the highest-rated groupings were key competencies of intellectual skills, safety, accountability, clinical decision-making, professionalism, communications, team-based approach and situational awareness. Two groups were represented in the literature but not in the professional capabilities, namely Health and Social continuum and self-directed practice. Conclusions This review highlights the importance of measuring and validating the professional capabilities of Paramedicine Practitioners. The study explores various metrics and competency frameworks used to assess competency, comparing them against national accreditation schemes' professional capability standards. The findings suggest that accreditation frameworks play a crucial role in improving the quality of paramedicine practice, encompassing intellectual skills, safety, accountability, clinical decision-making, professionalism, communication, teamwork, and situational awareness.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04992-wParamedicineCompetenciesCompetency frameworksProfessional capabilitiesAccreditationEvolving scopes of practice |
| spellingShingle | Anthony Weber Scott Devenish Louisa Lam Exploring the alignment between paramedicine's professional capabilities and competency frameworks for current and evolving scopes of practice: a literature review BMC Medical Education Paramedicine Competencies Competency frameworks Professional capabilities Accreditation Evolving scopes of practice |
| title | Exploring the alignment between paramedicine's professional capabilities and competency frameworks for current and evolving scopes of practice: a literature review |
| title_full | Exploring the alignment between paramedicine's professional capabilities and competency frameworks for current and evolving scopes of practice: a literature review |
| title_fullStr | Exploring the alignment between paramedicine's professional capabilities and competency frameworks for current and evolving scopes of practice: a literature review |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring the alignment between paramedicine's professional capabilities and competency frameworks for current and evolving scopes of practice: a literature review |
| title_short | Exploring the alignment between paramedicine's professional capabilities and competency frameworks for current and evolving scopes of practice: a literature review |
| title_sort | exploring the alignment between paramedicine s professional capabilities and competency frameworks for current and evolving scopes of practice a literature review |
| topic | Paramedicine Competencies Competency frameworks Professional capabilities Accreditation Evolving scopes of practice |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04992-w |
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