Paramedic Education to Support the Use of Low-Acuity Care Pathways: A Scoping Review Protocol

Abstract

Ambulance services worldwide have transformed over time into health care services that not only attend to life-threatening emergencies, but are also increasingly being utilised for patients with low-acuity or non-urgent illness and injury. As a result, there has been a need to adapt and include mechanisms to assist paramedics in the assessment and management of such patients, including alternative pathways of care. However, it has been identified that education and training for paramedics in the care of low-acuity patients is limited. This study aims to identify potential gaps in the literature and inform further research, paramedic education and training, patient care guidelines, and policy. A scoping review will be conducted utilising the Joanna Briggs Institutes methodology. A range of relevant electronic databases will be searched along with the grey literature, using search terms related to paramedic education for low-acuity patient care pathways. The search results will be screened by two authors and presented in the PRISMA-ScR format, with articles presented in tabular format and analysed thematically. The results of this scoping review will inform further research exploring paramedic education, clinical guidelines, policy and experiences in the management of low-acuity patients.

Keywords

• paramedic
• education
• training
• low acuity
• alternative pathways