Background:

Ambulance services have historically followed a medical model for determining future clinical direction, often deferring to a medical advisory board or medical director to determine suitable new skills, procedures, or pharmacology. Since the introduction of tertiary paramedic education, and due to the increasing professionalisation of our discipline, there has been a shift in thinking towards paramedics researching and determining their own destiny in a clinical sense. It is therefore becoming an important skill for paramedics to be able to look at current research and new trends, and to analyse the evidence base to determine whether or not this research should influence our practice, or whether a new skill, procedure, or pharmacology should be adopted into use.

Task introduction:

You have been tasked by a medical advisory board to review and propose the introduction of a new drug into the already extensive armament of drugs on offer in your chosen ambulance service. You can either choose a completely new drug not currently used by any ambulance service or you can research a drug currently used by an international ambulance service for introduction into your service. Adenosine and Entonox are not permitted for this task.

The drug you choose must be approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration of Australia (TGA), regardless of whether or not it is approved overseas by the FDA or other international agency. If you choose a drug already used by another service please note that you cannot simply alter the indications or the route of administration for that drug - this is not sufficient for this task. The medical advisory board would like for you to report on the introduction of this drug into the ambulance service and therefore require two parts to this proposal as follows:

PART A: Literature review (25%)

You are required to review recent literature for research articles (minimum of 5 articles) in relation to this drug of choice. Seek literature related to the context of use, i.e. suitability of this drug for use in the pre-hospital / emergency medicine setting.

You will review the information within this literature, critique, and discuss the findings. Your report must include the following sections:

• Title page: Stating name, student number, assignment task, unit number, and word count excluding title page, in-text citations, your DTP, and the reference list.
• Introduction: Background and your report aim.
• Research methodology: Detail the search methodology, e.g. which keywords and databases you used, your inclusion & exclusion criteria, etc. Your methods should be sufficient to enable the reader to replicate your study.
• Results: What did you find in your literature review? Present concise summary of your findings, noting important factors such as any limitations to the studies you used.
• Discussion: What conclusions can be drawn from the studies? Synthesise your research findings (your results) to justify your DTP introduction. Consider too the implications of introducing this drug into paramedic practice, for example, do you need to cease the use of one drug for the introduction of another? Are there any cost/equipment implications? For what scope of practice is this DTP authorised, i.e. all levels, or ACP2 upwards, or CCP only?
• Drug Therapy Protocol: Develop a new DTP for your drug of choice. This must be included in your literature review report, either within the body of your report or at the end as an appendix, and must be fully cited.
• Conclusion: Summarise your findings and state your recommendations. Remember no new information or citations in the conclusion!
• Reference list: A full reference list of all cited sources in APA format.

Word limit is 1800 words +/-10%, excluding title page, in-text citations, your DTP, and the reference list. Your report layout must be formatted in APA style, and all citations and references must also be in APA style. Guidance on APA layout requirements is provided on the Moodle assessment page.

PART B: Poster presentation (25%)

Using the information collected in Part A, you are required to develop a scientific poster about your drug of choice. This poster is to be posted around ambulance stations to provide information on the new drug and the research underlying its introduction as a new DTP. Its intent is an informational and visual adjunct to training, and the audience are qualified paramedics of ACP2 level upwards. This poster presents your report findings in a different format for a different audience, and includes the following sections:

• Introduction: Background of the topic and aim of the poster.
• Research results: Brief summary of the findings from your literature review report, i.e. how your findings justified this DTP; you will need to rewrite your report findings in a concise manner for the small poster word count.
• DTP comparison: A section illustrating how this drug is the best option for this particular condition; e.g. you can compare against action and side effects of other drugs of the same class, or against whatever drug is in current use; this is best presented as a table.
• Drug Therapy Protocol: The DTP that you developed; you may reformat and abbreviate this to fit the poster, for example omitting any special notes.
• Discussion: Use this section to discuss introduction of this DTP, e.g. how this addresses an undertreated condition, citing incidence of the condition, logistics of introduction, etc.
• Images: Photographs, diagrams, or illustrations are expected to convey additional information and add visual appeal.
• References: You may switch to numerical referencing to save on space but all sections, including DTP, must be fully cited.

Your word limit is 800-1000 words, excluding in-text citations, the DTP, and the reference list. Remember that information on posters must be concise and clear, as a summary of the most pertinent information, and that the writing style will be different to that of your report as you are writing for a different purpose and audience. In creating the poster content therefore you must rewrite your findings to better suit the poster context, purpose, and audience; you absolutely must not simply paste in sections of your written report! 

Assignment support:

This is a major academic writing task requiring third-year level writing and content. A range of support is provided during term for this task, including video presentations, email consultations and formative feedback on your draft work, and advice on drug choice. Please begin work on this early and do not hesitate to seek advice on drug choice if confused, or for example, wish to use an existing drug for a new indication.

Information within the Unit Profile is further supported and explained by full guidelines upon the assessment page in Moodle; please refer to this page for full requirements, exemplars, and rubric.

A marking rubric for both parts of this assessment task together with exemplar material are provided on the Moodle page for reference. This list of assessment criteria is necessarily brief for the Unit Profile and is more completely outlined upon the Moodle page.

This task is worth 50% of your overall mark. You must attain a minimum mark of 50% for this task to pass, and you must pass this task to pass the unit.

Part A: Literature review (25%)

• Presentation and layout: information presented in a clear & logical sequence; content clearly written in academic style; conforms to word count; abbreviations & diagrams are appropriate where used; layout formatting of report body is consistent and correct APA style; cover page including required details and calculated word count (excluding citations, reference list, and DTP).
• Content: required subsections are present; selected drug meets criteria and is appropriate for introduction into prehospital use; current relevant literature used; results succinctly present literature review findings; discussion considers implications of findings for report aim and gives recommendations; concise conclusion.
• Drug therapy protocol: fully cited with all information included; effective layout; concise and unambiguous language.
• Referencing: all sources referenced appropriately throughout this task in correct APA style.
• File format: Submitted as Word document.

Part B: Poster presentation (25%)

• Presentation: Effective presentation of the scientific poster in terms of layout, colour scheme, and use of visual content.
• Content: Repurposes the content and findings of the literature review for the poster context and format; all content must be rewritten for the new format and audience; poster must include all required sections / content.
• Referencing: Consistently accurate with in text and referencing list protocols in line with the APA system of referencing.
• Details: Include your name, student number, and the word count excluding citations, the DTP, and the reference list.
• File format: Submitted as PDF file.

This information is a summary only. You must refer to the Moodle assessment pages for more detailed information, including rubric, exemplars, and instructional videos. Late submissions will be accepted, but penalties will accrue at 5% for every calendar day past the due date.

All submissions are subject to review of the associated TurnitIn report.

For this assessment task you will complete an online quiz. This short-answer quiz will be made up of short answer questions related to the material in this unit, and will include case based management exercises that include drug calculations in accordance with the Queensland Ambulance Service Drug Therapy Protocols at ACP2 level.

The quiz will become available on Monday of Week 9, and must be completed by Friday of Week 10. You will have a specific time limit imposed to complete the quiz. Please refer to the assessment page in Moodle for example practice quizzes from previous terms that you can use to experience the quiz format, layout, and time limit.

• You will be required to answer each question at an Advanced Care Paramedic Two level (ACP2).
• In order to achieve the full marks allocated to that question you must complete each question fully and you must include any drug calculations in your answer.
• Please ensure that you read each question carefully; questions require multiple parts to your answer, e.g. stated question may require weight calculation AND drug dosage AND volume of administration AND route of administration, etc.
• This quiz is worth 25% of your overall mark.
• You must achieve a minimum pass mark of 50% to pass this assessment, and you must pass this assessment to pass the unit.
• You will only be given one attempt for this quiz.
• Do not press BACK on your browser or REFRESH the page at any time; your work will be lost as responses are not saved until the quiz is submitted or the allotted time expires.
• You will have a time limit of 90 minutes to complete the quiz.
• When your 90 minutes expires, any open attempts are automatically submitted.
• When the due date expires, any open attempts are automatically submitted; you must therefore start the quiz early enough to complete it before that deadline, or it will close before your full 90 minutes.
• For this assessment task no late submissions will be accepted and the quiz will close and become unavailable after the due date and time.
• In the absence of an approved extension, there will be no opportunity to complete the task after this date, nor opportunity to apply a late penalty of five percent per day.

For this assessment task you will complete an online quiz. This short-answer quiz will be made up of short answer questions related to the material in this unit, and will include case based management exercises that include drug calculations in accordance with the Queensland Ambulance Service Drug Therapy Protocols at ACP2 level.

The quiz will become available on Monday of Week 11, and must be completed by Friday of Week 12. You will have a specific time limit imposed to complete the quiz. Please refer to the assessment page in Moodle for example practice quizzes from previous terms that you can use to experience the quiz format, layout, and time limit.

• You will be required to answer each question at an Advanced Care Paramedic Two level (ACP2).
• In order to achieve the full marks allocated to that question you must complete each question fully and you must include any drug calculations in your answer.
• Please ensure that you read each question carefully; questions require multiple parts to your answer, e.g. stated question may require weight calculation AND drug dosage AND volume of administration AND route of administration, etc.
• This quiz is worth 25% of your overall mark.
• You must achieve a minimum pass mark of 50% to pass this assessment, and you must pass this assessment to pass the unit.
• You will only be given one attempt for this quiz.
• Do not press BACK on your browser or REFRESH the page at any time; your work will be lost as responses are not saved until the quiz is submitted or the allotted time expires.
• You will have a time limit of 90 minutes to complete the quiz.
• When your 90 minutes expires, any open attempts are automatically submitted.
• When the due date expires, any open attempts are automatically submitted; you must therefore start the quiz early enough to complete it before that deadline, or it will close before your full 90 minutes.
• For this assessment task no late submissions will be accepted and the quiz will close and become unavailable after the due date and time.
• In the absence of an approved extension, there will be no opportunity to complete the task after this date, nor opportunity to apply a late penalty of five percent per day.