Preamble

Historically, ambulance services followed a medical model for determining future clinical direction, often deferring to a medical advisory board or medical director to determine new skills, procedures or pharmacology. More recently, 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 a new skill, procedure or pharmacology should be adopted (or not).

Task Description

You have been tasked by a medical advisory board to review the introduction of either a new drug (approved by the TGA) or another service's drug (not currently used by your chosen service) into the already extensive armament of drugs on offer in your chosen ambulance service. Please note that simply altering the indications for a current drug or the route of administration of a current drug 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 2 parts to this proposal.

Part one (20%) will require you to develop a paper including a review of the literature on your drug of choice. You will be required to review recent (no greater than 5 years) research articles (aim for 5 articles) in relation to this drug of choice. It is preferred that the literature review is in narrative form (that is, explain the research in your own words). The word limit for this section is 1500 words.

Using information you obtain from the journals you will combine the information, critique the literature and your report should include:

Introduction - your report aim
Research articles - identify the research designs, the study participants and describe how the data was collected for each study
Discussion - What conclusions can be drawn from the studies? Discuss 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?
Conclusion - what are your recommendations (drug therapy protocol to be developed here or as an appendix - either way it is included in your word count)
Reference List

Part two (20%) - using the information collected in part one, you will be required to develop a scientific poster.

There is no specific word limit here, as you will be using the information gained in Part 1. Remember to summarise your information for presentation.

Part one (20%) - The paper will be assessed on:

Presentation and layout: information presented in a clear & logical sequence; content clearly written; appropriate word count; abbreviations & diagrams used appropriately

Questions: selected drug meets criteria; most current literature used; introduction; discussion of research design & data; implications of introducing the drug; recommendations

Drug therapy protocol: developed appropriately; all information included; effective layout; sources acknowledged

Referencing: use of Harvard referencing; all sources referenced appropriately; reference list

Part Two (20%) – The poster will be assessed on:

Required content: looking at the main points covered & content

Presentation: looking at visual engagement; use of visual elements; graphics & overall presentation

Mechanics: looking at grammar & spelling & referencing

The assessment rubric used in marking this assessment task can be found on the unit Moodle page.

All assessments must be completed to pass this unit.

You will need to complete a clinical portfolio of a minimum of three (3) patients you have assessed and treated during your recent work as a paramedic. The format of your portfolio can be self-determined, however it must include:

• a review of patient presentation, including chief complaint, history and physical examination. The history should include a review of the patient's own medications, including detail on each medication's indication, potential side-effects and interactions, and how these medications may impact upon the patients' current condition and chief complaint
• a summary of your non-pharmacological treatment of the patient
• a detailed assessment of the real and potential pharmacological treatment of this patient, including:
• core paramedic drugs used & why
• potential critical care medications to be used with a focus on:
• relating the drug/s mechanism of action to the patient's condition & associated pathophysiology (that is, why the drug/s is/are indicated)
• situations where the drug/s would be contraindicated
• potential side effects & explanation of why they occur
• potential interactions with the patient's current medications

You will need to demonstrate an ability to understand the foundations of critical care pharmacology using clinical decision making and applying the theoretical principles of pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics & reviewing concepts such as side-effects & interactions. In addition, you will need to demonstrate an understanding of complex medications and their interactions with the delivery of pharmacology in the critical care context.

While there is no prescribed word limit for your portfolio, it is expected that each case presentation will be concise. The portfolio will be assessed in accordance with the rubric provided on the unit Moodle page.This portfolio is worth 30% of your overall unit mark. All assessments must be completed to pass this unit.

Criteria include:

overall presentation

o organisation of presentation/layout

o writing mechanics

o formatting

o referencing

o thoroughness of history

o thoroughness of physical examination

o treatment administered

o discussion of current pharmacology

o recommendations regarding real or potential pharmacological treatment

You will be required to complete this online quiz by the end of Week 12, this quiz will become available in Week 11 and will have a specific time limit imposed to complete the quiz.

The quiz will be made up of multiple choice questions exploring content explored in the unit (including lecture materials, online modules, links & required readings). The quiz will assess your ability to identify & apply the foundations of critical care paramedic pharmacology including pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, mechanism of action, indications, interactions, contraindications & side effects. In addition, some questions in the quiz will explore your ability to demonstrate clinical decision-making for the use of pharmacology in the critical care context.This is an individual assessment with no collaboration allowed.

You will be required to answer each question to receive the full marks allocated to that question. Non-attempts will score a zero mark. There will be no negative marking (that is, you will not lose a mark for an incorrect response). This assessment task must be completed by 2345hrs on the Friday of Week 12 (2 June 2017). In the absence of an approved extension, there will be no opportunity to complete the task after this date, and there will be no opportunity to apply a late penalty of five percent per day. This quiz is worth 20% of your overall mark. All assessments must be completed to pass this unit.