You are required to discuss a clinical case that you have attended where the patient presented with a common chronic or low acuity disease state.

The case report must include the following:

• A description of the patient's clinical presentation, history and assessment findings. (If applicable, please also include discussion on further diagnostic tests that could have been utilized in the formulation of a diagnosis for this patient at a PP level.)

• Considering the above, provide possible differential diagnoses for this patient’s condition and justify each differential diagnosis with evidence.

• Discuss each of these conditions’ pathophysiology, epidemiology, risk factors and signs and symptoms

• Formulate a working diagnosis for this patient.

Students are reminded that to achieve a pass mark in this unit you will need to submit all assessment pieces and achieve a minimum pass mark of 50% for each assessment piece.

While there is no maximum word limit for your case report, there is minimum requirement of 3000 words. The case report will be assessed in accordance with the rubric provided on the unit’s Moodle page. It should be presented in an essay format.

The case report is worth 40% of your overall unit mark.

During your career as a paramedic you would have experienced call outs to patients with common chronic or low acuity disease states that may have required medical assistance, though not at an emergency care level. In most cases these patients are unnecessarily transported to a hospital’s emergency department (ED) for a non-acute condition, increasing the clinical demand on EDs and patient waiting periods.

Paramedic Practitioners (PPs) have a significant potential to reduce unnecessary transportation and the burden on emergency departments by treating these patients within their communities or at home.

You will need to create a presentation of non-acute clinical case that you have attended and transported, where your patient could have been provided the appropriate primary care management for their condition within their community or at home by a Paramedic Practitioner.

Your presentation must include the following information:

• Brief introduction to the case.

• The patient’s presentation, history and assessment findings.

• Provide a working diagnosis with supporting evidence.

• Reflection on the management that was provided on scene and on route to hospital.

• Discussion on a revised assessment and management plan for this patient at a Paramedic Practitioner level, justified by the inclusion of the evidence based medicine and primary care management guidelines.

• All medical practice is that is discussed at a PP level must be justified with presented evidence.

Students are reminded that to achieve a pass mark in this unit you will need to submit all assessment pieces and achieve a minimum pass mark of 50% for each assessment piece.

The presentation will be assessed in accordance with the rubric and information provided on the unit’s Moodle page. The following criteria are key points to be included:

• The presentation should be in a PowerPoint format.

• Recorded narration is required and you can use the Notes section to detail your thinking.

• The presentation must address each of the main topic tasks as detailed in the task description.

• Avoid superficial points or comments.

• As this is a presentation, you should include images where appropriate, but these must be referenced.

The presentation has no specified length in regards to the amount of slides used but the recorded presentation should be a maximum of twenty (20) minutes to a minimum of fifteen (15) minutes in length.

This presentation is worth 30% of your overall unit mark.

“The goal of palliative care is to improve the quality of life of patients with an active, progressive disease that has little or no prospect of a cure. With the growth and ageing of Australia's population, and an increase of chronic and generally incurable illnesses, the types of patient groups requiring palliative care has widened.” (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2016)

Essay Question:

Discuss the Paramedic Practitioner’s present and possible future role in the delivery of palliative care for patients that are terminally ill within the Australian context.

Please consider the following suggestions for inclusion in your discussion,

• The Paramedic Practitioner’s role in direct patient care (assessment, goals of care, care towards the patient, family and carers, physical, cultural and psychosocial etc.).

• The Paramedic Practitioner’s role in indirect patient care (multidisciplinary teams, specialist and community support services involvement, referral etc.).

• Ethical Considerations.

• End of life communication.

Reference Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2016, Palliative care (AIHW). Australian Government. Available from: http://www.aihw.gov.au/palliative-care/ [Accessed: 24 January 2017].

Students are reminded that to achieve a pass mark in this unit you will need to submit all assessment pieces and achieve a minimum pass mark of 50% for each assessment piece.

While there is no maximum word limit for your essay, there is a minimum word count of 2500 words and it is expected that the essay arguments will be clear and concise. The written assessment will be assessed in accordance with the rubric and information provided on the unit’s Moodle page. It should be presented in an essay format.

This written assessment is worth 30% of your overall unit mark.