A Deloitte study on General Practices in 2019 predicted an increase in unmet medical needs and a decrease in the medical workforce. The study discussed new models of care with interdisciplinary team care including nurse practitioners and community paramedics. Australian Health Journal spoke with the Australasian College of Paramedicine on the role paramedics can play aside from delivering emergency care in transit.
John Bruning is the CEO of the Australasian College of Paramedicine, which has been representing the paramedicine profession in Australia and New Zealand for more than 50 years. According to John, there have been exciting developments in the paramedicine and health fields the past year.
The scope of practice review, as well as the Federal Government’s efforts to improve patient outcomes through multidisciplinary team care, have been particularly noteworthy. While paramedics have traditionally been associated with emergency response and ambulance services, the review has highlighted the potential for them to play a significant role in supporting the healthcare of local communities.
Bruning points out paramedics have the opportunity to play a key role in supporting healthcare and improving patient outcomes. Paramedics should be utilised more widely in urgent care clinics to improve patient outcomes as they are experts in urgent, acute, unplanned care.
Despite being seen primarily as emergency responders, paramedics have long been providing care in the primary care space. As such, their increased involvement in primary and urgent care is a natural progression that can lead to improved health outcomes for communities. Urgent care clinics, which treat non-life-threatening injuries and illnesses, have been a recent introduction. However, when these clinics were initially proposed, paramedics were left out of the opportunity, despite being experts in urgent, acute, unplanned, and unscheduled care. They work in these types of situations every day in the ambulance service and should be utilised in these clinics to improve patient outcomes. Working as part of multidisciplinary teams with doctors and nurses can further enhance the outcomes for local communities.
Discussing with Australian Health Journal, Michelle Murphy, the Advocacy and Government Relations Lead for the Australasian College of Paramedicine, says that having a sustainable health workforce is essential for improving access to healthcare. Paramedicine is currently the fastest-growing health workforce, growing at 9% per annum for the last four years. Urgent care clinics are filling the gap between family or primary care and tertiary or hospital-based care and reducing the pressure on emergency departments and ambulances. Paramedics are well-placed to work in these clinics, delivering ad hoc unplanned clinical care when it is urgent but not an emergency. Multidisciplinary teams improve access to care by enabling communities to think about the health providers they need and bringing together different providers to work together to deliver care in communities.
Murphy references a study involving Associate Professor John Adie at the University of the Sunshine Coast. As Assoc Professor of Urgent Care, Prof Adie talks about the workforce of General Practitioners at the time predicted to decrease by 25% from 2019 to 2023, while the unmet need was expected to increase by 38%. Some countries are adopting new models that involve nurse practitioners and community paramedics as part of the workforce. These practitioners will be able to assist GPs in seeing patients with non-life-threatening urgent conditions.
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Rural allied health mentorship program creates opportunities for students and practice
Melanie Roll, a director and physiotherapist at Gen Health Hamilton, is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of allied health professionals. Gen Health’s support begins with a work experience program for local secondary school students, where they can observe a variety of health services and participate in an annual careers night to explore allied health career pathways.
Upon moving to tertiary education, students are offered placements through a five-week program designed to transition them from observation to supervised practice and ultimately to seeing their own patients. In their final study year, they can apply for the mentorship program, which aids the transition into private practice.
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Using human skin hair follicles to treat Alzheimer’s disease
Professor Michael Valenzuela is a science opinion leader, innovator and creative thinker with a career-long commitment to the prevention and treatment of dementia.
Following that he completed graduate medicine and medical training at the Prince of Wales Hospital. In 2012, he established the Regenerative Neuroscience Group at the University of Sydney, and in 2017 became the university’s first Professor of Regenerative Medicine.
Professor Valenzuela’s group discovered a new cell type with potential for regenerative medicine, a rare neural precursor cell found deep within the human hair follicle. He is the main inventor on several related patents and is the Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Skin2Neuron – a biotech company developing the first neurorestorative cell therapy for Alzheimer’s disease based on this work.
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Primary care remodelled
Tracey Johnson is the CEO of Inala Primary Care, a not-for-profit general practice located in Inala serving approximately 7000 patients; 4400 of whom attend clinic regularly. Inala is a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland and has a population of great cultural and linguistic diversity, with just under 40% of residents speaking English at home. It is also one of Queensland’s most socioeconomically marginalised urban areas.
Australian Health Journal spoke with Tracey on the role of Inala Primary care in reducing hospital admissions.
