Credit Points 10

Description This subject develops core competencies for paramedic practice in real-world situations by facilitation of an emergency ambulance placement. This unit introduces students to patient safety and quality in paramedicine. Students are taught about the principles of patient safety and how these are applied in the out-of-hospital setting and paramedicine context. Besides ensuring patient safety, healthcare organisations need to monitor, analyse, and improve the care they provide. This unit will teach students about quality in healthcare and more specifically in paramedicine. Students will learn about the science of improvement and how it can be applied to continuously improve the care for patients. The role and responsibilities of the individual frontline paramedic within an organisation’s patient safety and quality framework will be explored.

School Health Sciences

Student Contribution Band HECS Band 2 10cp

Check your fees via the Fees page.

Level Undergraduate Level 3 subject

Pre-requisite(s) HLTH 3022

Restrictions

Must be enrolled in 4790 Bachelor of Paramedicine

Learning Outcomes

After successful completion of this Subject, students will be able to: 

1. Demonstrate a high level of professionalism, effective communication skills, ethics, and consistent safe work practices in a real-world environment.
2. Argue the importance of patient safety in healthcare and in paramedicine.
3. Analyse the relationship between error and harm, and the causation of harm from unsafe acts. 
4. Analyse issues of human factors in healthcare and specifically in paramedicine, and apply human factors principles to create safer systems of care.
5. Apply principles of patient safety and frameworks for designing safer and more reliable systems of out-of-hospital care.
6. Critically appraise models and frameworks for quality improvement by applying principles of improvement science.
7. Debate the development of meaningful measures to evaluate the quality of care and their application in the context of improvement science.

Subject Content

The subject covers patient safety, quality, and quality improvement in the context of paramedicine. To achieve this the subject will cover the following topics:

1. Patient Safety in Healthcare and in Paramedicine
2. Errors in Healthcare and Patient Harm
3. Human Factors and Crew Resource Management (CRM) in Paramedicine
4. Responding to Adverse Events
5. Quality and Quality Improvement in Healthcare and in Paramedicine
6. Improvement as a Science
7. Measurement for Improvement
8. Data Analysis in Improvement Science

Special Requirements

Legislative pre-requisites

Prior to enrolling in this subject, students must have submitted a Student Undertaking Form and undertake to apply for a National Police Check, which is required to be submitted before placement, and a Working with Children Check Student Declaration. Students must hold a valid and current First Aid Certificate from a Registered Training Organisation. Use the link to the Special Requirements webpage below for more information.

Student Compliance Information for all Health-Related Placements
Students must meet Western Sydney University course requirements as well as any special, legislated, or policy-mandated requirements.

Western Course Requirements
Visit the Special Requirements webpage for details about your course.
Special Requirements: https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/currentstudents/current_students/enrolment/special_requirements

Mandatory NSW Health student placement policy requirements
To be able to undertake placement in any NSW Health facility you must be assessed as compliant with NSW Health student placement policy in the first year of your course, regardless of when you expect to go on your first placement. Access and read the NSW Student Compliance Information Booklet.

NSW Student Compliance Information Booklet: https://issuu.com/uwspublications/docs/wsu_student_compliance_booklet_2020_v6

Please ensure that you

1. Find your existing National Police Check or apply for one
2. Gather documentary evidence of your vaccination history
3. Print and compete all relevant NSW Health forms relevant to the campus you are enrolled at or online enrolment requirements
4. Follow booklet instructions on how to have your compliance documents assessed by NSW health staff.

International students have additional requirements: the link to the booklet will inform you of these requirements.

School Requirements

Contact your School for further details regarding your School’s requirements, if any, such as
If you live outside of NSW or Australia and need to meet your state, territory or country’s compliance requirements
If you need to meet different state, territory or country compliance requirements.
NSW Working with Children Check (WWCC) or other state equivalent, valid for your entire course.
Current approved first aid certificate valid for your entire course - approved course providers can be found at the Government Training website
http://training.gov.au
Other non-health related requirements.
Student Compliance Resources are also available on the Placements Hub web page.

https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/learning_futures/home/placements_hub/placements_hub/student_compliance

Essential equipment

Students are expected to have a complete WSU Paramedicine Student uniform as described in the paramedicine student uniform guide. No uniform means the student is unable to complete in practical classes or undertake emergency ambulance placement. Students are expected to have their own stethoscope, safety googles, penlight torch and sphygmomanometer.