ROLE OF COMMUNITY PARAMEDICINE IN NON-EMERGENCY PRESENTATIONS
Dr Robbie King
Lecturer in paramedicine and researcher, Australian Catholic University (ACU) Brisbane &
Senior Advanced Care Paramedic/Community Paramedic,
Sunshine Coast District, Birtinya Station,
Queensland Ambulance Service, Australia
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Brisbane, Queensland | November 2024
Dr Robbie King is a Lecturer in paramedicine and researcher at the Australian Catholic University (ACU) Brisbane. He also continues to provide clinical care as a registered paramedic for community members served by a jurisdictional ambulance service. Dr King has gained significant experience working in an advanced practice, community paramedic style role, holding expert clinical insight into the nuances of paramedic-led community-based healthcare for non-emergency presentations. This often involves adopting a biopsychosocial approach, rather than following the biomedical model more associated with emergency medicine and paramedic culture.
To encourage a patient-centred approach to paramedic-led healthcare by exploring the unmet needs of people requesting unscheduled emergency ambulance care, Dr King advocates for greater consumer engagement in paramedic research. He completed his PhD in early 2024 which explored the patient perspective of paramedic-led healthcare when patients were not transported to hospital. This research generated a theory that describes a process of patients ‘restoring self-efficacy’ when their vulnerabilities are validated, and they receive clinically competent and compassionate care.
Dr King has presented at professional symposium internationally, and in Australia where he continues to encourage greater consumer involvement in research to inform development of paramedic education and ambulance service models of healthcare delivery. Dr King is a Fellow of the Australasian College of Paramedicine and member of various professional research and Community Paramedic working groups. His research focus includes exploring the role of community paramedics in improving health literacy, self-efficacy, and addressing the psychosocial needs of patients requesting emergency ambulance services.
-
CASE STUDY Large scale genetic study finds link between Irritable Bowel Syndrome & cardiovascular system
Research published April 2024 in the journal Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology sheds light on disease mechanisms common to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and cardiovascular diseases (CVD).
-
Links investigated between poor sleep and onset of dementia
Watch Samantha Bramich, a PHD candidate at the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, University of Tasmania talk on identify the prevalence of rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) in Tasmania and how poor sleep contributes to the onset of dementia and other diseases.
-
Vision impairment in children and the impact on children and their families
Dr Sue Silveira holds a conjoint academic position with Macquarie University and is the Course Director for their Master of Disability Studies, which is administered and delivered by NextSense Institute in affiliation with the University. She teaches in the areas of vision impairment and disability, and aims to share her knowledge while learning from others, especially people who are blind or have low vision and their families.
