Research
Systematic review and investigation of clinical practice has become an integral element of health service delivery. Although the concept is older, it is arguably the significant funding and drive towards evidence based practice and policy of the 1990's in the UK that has encouraged its significant development of recent years. Research employs scientific rigour to identify the evidence base for practices. By collecting an evidence base, so doing we are better able to differentiate for example between good and bad techniques, functional and dysfunctional equipment, to determine the efficacy of drugs, or to identify that positive outcomes are yielded by specific treatment bundles.
Developing its own research infrastructure is described by Cutcliffe and Ward (2007) as one of the essential traits of a group of practitioners transitioning into a profession. This is reflected in the professional standards of the Health and Care Professions Council, requiring a registered paramedic to have the analytical skills to interpret and adopt research evidence in the maintenance of current best practice.
Considering this, the paucity of pre-hospital clinician led research is recognised (Griffiths and Mooney (2012). The paramedic profession is a young one, only becoming a registered profession in 2000. Its evolution in a rapidly developing health care system into a higher education training model and the curriculum guidance of the College of Paramedics has been rapid, and its own infrastructure of research is similarly developing. Where historically practice has been dictated by tradition, anecdotal evidence, trial and error, or the evidence bases of other healthcare providers, patients in the pre-hospital setting often receive services unproven in their efficacy (Institute of Medicine 2007). The continued development of the paramedic profession in its scope of practice and autonomy is undeniably symbiant with the development of its own body of critically reviewed researching practitioners.
Developing its own research infrastructure is described by Cutcliffe and Ward (2007) as one of the essential traits of a group of practitioners transitioning into a profession. This is reflected in the professional standards of the Health and Care Professions Council, requiring a registered paramedic to have the analytical skills to interpret and adopt research evidence in the maintenance of current best practice.
Considering this, the paucity of pre-hospital clinician led research is recognised (Griffiths and Mooney (2012). The paramedic profession is a young one, only becoming a registered profession in 2000. Its evolution in a rapidly developing health care system into a higher education training model and the curriculum guidance of the College of Paramedics has been rapid, and its own infrastructure of research is similarly developing. Where historically practice has been dictated by tradition, anecdotal evidence, trial and error, or the evidence bases of other healthcare providers, patients in the pre-hospital setting often receive services unproven in their efficacy (Institute of Medicine 2007). The continued development of the paramedic profession in its scope of practice and autonomy is undeniably symbiant with the development of its own body of critically reviewed researching practitioners.