Doctorate
Doctorate Title: A model of Continuous Professional Development for Registered Pre hospital Practitioners.
Doctorate Description: The introduction of a Regulatory body in Ireland with responsibility for ensuring high
standards of education and professionalism for ambulance, and other pre-hospital,
practitioners was a welcomed initiative in 2001 due to a need for improvement in care
delivered to patients before arrival at hospital.
This Regulatory body, the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council (PHECC), was
established under Statutory Instrument with an initial priority being to develop three
levels of pre-hospital practitioner: Emergency Medical Technician (EMT); Paramedic;
Advanced Paramedic (AP). The introduction of these three levels meant that only
such registered practitioners could practice in the pre-hospital environment. However
for practitioners to renew their registration, they had only to meet simple and minimal
criteria with no requirement to demonstrate any level of competence.
The Council’s 2011-2014 Strategic plan identified the need to introduce a system of
continuous professional development/competence as a priority.
The purpose of the studies in this thesis was to engage with the three levels of
practitioner in Ireland and to seek their views and opinions so as to identify factors
that would inform the implementation of a continuous professional competence (CPC)
framework for all pre-hospital practitioners. The expectation in when initiating this
work was that the results would assist in the introduction of a framework for one
group of registrants in particular, EMTs. In reality the outcomes from these studies
provided the evidence base when drafting the formal guidance document that was
subsequently issued officially to all EMTs in Ireland by the Regulator.
Following that introduction of CPC, a retrospective analysis was performed through
engagement with those registrants so to allow for further refinement of the process
before the framework would subsequently be introduced to the two remaining
registrant groups, paramedics and APs.
At a practical level, this thesis represents the first series of studies to engage with all
levels of pre-hospital emergency care registrants on a national level in Ireland and is
one of only very few to report nationwide pre-hospital research. Data were gathered
using qualitative and quantitative methods, in the form of on-line surveys and focus
groups. These data then formed the basis for the initial introduction of the CPC
model. After a six-month period, further engagement with registrants provided the
additional data to refine the process further. Therefore, this work represented a
meaningful process of consultation with practicing pre-hospital care providers that
would inform the information to be provided to them by their Regulator and the
format in which that would be delivered. To my knowledge, there is no previously
published example of such relationship between pre-hospital practitioners and
Regulators internationally.
Further, the design of this thesis allowed additional engagement with Irish pre-hospital
practitioners following the introduction of CPC. Through publication of the
outcomes, the thesis makes a contribution to both the international literature on
continuous professional competence (CPC) for pre-hospital practitioners specifically
and, in particular, the development of the profession in Ireland. The implementation
of CPC aligns Irish pre-hospital practitioners with other well established international
best practice models. This thesis, through substantial engagement with registrants, has
identified the factors which they believe are important for the successful
implementation of CPC and adds to the international literature on pre-hospital care
and, in particular, practitioner competence in this regard.
The model of CPC will have significant implications for all registrants; organisations
who operate in the pre-hospital environment; the Regulator; and will positively impact
on patient care by ensuring a national standard of competence exists for all relevant
practitioners. While Ireland has been the focus of this thesis, the publication of its
findings in peer-reviewed journals means that its relevance may extend beyond the
Irish setting to those working more broadly in the fields of continuous professional
development and professionalism internationally.
Details:
Type: PhD
University: University of Limerick
Primary Supervisor: Professor Colum Dunne
Category: Professional Development
Funding: None
Start Date: 2011
End Date: 2015
Status: Complete
