What material is on the Australian Paramedic test?

[lacountylifeguard]

I am an English teacher and in the summer I work in aquatics, mainly as a SCUBA diving instructor. I have an EMT-B license, but I want to study part time for the Australian paramedic exam so that I can help a SCUBA student who may have medical issues while we are on a dive boat far from the shore. Can anyone let me know where I can find a curriculum for what is on the exam (especially which drugs I need to know about, which skills I need to know, etc.). Thanks.

 

[STXmedic]

I am an English teacher and in the summer I work in aquatics, mainly as a SCUBA diving instructor. I have an EMT-B license, but I want to study part time for the Australian paramedic exam so that I can help a SCUBA student who may have medical issues while we are on a dive boat far from the shore. Can anyone let me know where I can find a curriculum for what is on the exam (especially which drugs I need to know about, which skills I need to know, etc.). Thanks.

So let me try and clarify (there will be some assumptions)...

You have your EMT-B. Judging by your SN, you are American?

You are not currently in either an American or Australian paramedic program?

You wish to study on your own for the Australian paramedic exam. Do you plan on taking said exam? Is it not a requirement in Australia to attend a paramedic program prior to sitting for their licensing exam?

You plan on using the knowledge you gain from studying for this test to provide advanced medical aid to a potentially sick diver, up to and including giving medications and performing procedures outside of your current scope of EMT-B? Will this all be freelance medical care, as well?

Any further clarification you wish to add would be appreciated as well...

:unsure:

 

[lacountylifeguard]

I am going to go point by point:

You have your EMT-B. Judging by your SN, you are American?

Yes, I am an American.

You are not currently in either an American or Australian paramedic program?

I am going to be an English teacher in a foreign country, neither America nor Australia, but there is a paramedic training program nearby that follows the Australian standards and administers the Australia paramedic exam. I plan to work as an English teacher and to take EMS classes here and there at night and on the weekends, in part because I think it is valuable knowledge to have, and in part because I am interested in EMS. However, I also enjoy being an English teacher, so I am not going to study EMS full time.

You wish to study on your own for the Australian paramedic exam. Do you plan on taking said exam? Is it not a requirement in Australia to attend a paramedic program prior to sitting for their licensing exam?

At some point, when I have completed the requirements and I feel as though I am prepared, I would like to take the exam. I am not planning on becoming a full time paramedic, but if I complete the courses and I feel prepared, then I would be interested in the exam to test my skills. My English teaching job will not start for a couple more weeks, so I would like to do some readings and what not for now while I have more time.

You plan on using the knowledge you gain from studying for this test to provide advanced medical aid to a potentially sick diver, up to and including giving medications and performing procedures outside of your current scope of EMT-B? Will this all be freelance medical care, as well?

Not necessarily--I originally completed the EMT-B course because I was spending my summers working as a lifeguard and now as a SCUBA instructor. Lifeguards and SCUBA instructors cannot do all of the things that EMT-Bs can do, for example we are not allowed to give people nitro, but even though I couldn't practice every EMT-B skill, I still think that the EMT-B training and certification is valuable for people who are not working as formal EMTs. I may not administer medications to a diver having a problem when I am working as a SCUBA Instructor, but having additional paramedic-related knowledge can still be helpful regardless of whether I will be doing everything of which a paramedic is capable. While working as a SCUBA instructor, I will have liability insurance, and I will follow the regular standards without acting outside of the proper scope of practice.

Any further clarification you wish to add would be appreciated as well...

I would be happy to further clarify any other aspect with regard to my question.

 

[STXmedic]

Thanks for the clarification; glad to hear you don't sound like a whacker

As an American medic, I'd be of little help to you. I know we have a handful of members here that are from the AUS/NZ area- hopefully they can chime in for you.

I would venture to say, though, that your best bet is to start from the bottom and work your way up. Instead of learning the test preps, find out what classroom material is used, and begin learning those books. Especially since it sounds like you're still quite a while from being ready to test.

 

[Handsome Robb]

I thought it was a bachelors degree to be a medic in Australia? Not just a class. Then it's up near a masters to be an intensive care paramedic which really compares to medics in some systems here as far as scope...not education in the vast majority of cases.

 

[lacountylifeguard]

Thanks for your reply. The paramedic program that I was looking at looks comparable to an associate's degree program. They have a two year course for people who are new to EMS, but they will allow credit for some courses already completed (ie: the first semester has several courses related to being an EMT-B, and at the end of that semester the students take the EMT-B exam, but I wouldn't have to complete those courses given that I already have completed those courses and have that certification).

 

[Scott33]

Could you post a link to the course you are considering?

 

[SpecialK]

Mate I think you might have been out in the sun a bit too long!

There is no "Paramedic exam" in Australia because Paramedics in Australia do not have a professional licensing body so there's that idea blown out of the water; no pun intended as you're a lifeguard.

Yes Robb you are right; Paramedic is now a Bachelors Degree. The only service that still hires people off the street and puts them through the old vocational Diploma is the Ambulance Service of New South Wales and that is because they are so large they cannot find enough Degree graduates; but even they have not hired fresh in several years. Somebody I know has just jumped ship for ASNSW but they applied like a couple years ago and have been waiting ever since.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but this guy is in fantasy land. His EMT card won't even get him a first aid certificate down here.

 

[lacountylifeguard]

Thanks for your replies--I will send private messages to you and Scott33 regarding the program, and I will hope to hear replies from you. I have been emailing with the director, and he told me that it would be possible to take courses part time and that he would give me what he wrote is "the test" to have a paramedic certification. I definitely want to be sure that I would be getting quality education, so please reply back regarding your opinions on whether this would be worthwhile.

 

[SpecialK]

Thanks for your replies--I will send private messages to you and Scott33 regarding the program, and I will hope to hear replies from you. I have been emailing with the director, and he told me that it would be possible to take courses part time and that he would give me what he wrote is "the test" to have a paramedic certification. I definitely want to be sure that I would be getting quality education, so please reply back regarding your opinions on whether this would be worthwhile.

You are not listening. You need to understand the following things

(1) Paramedics are not a registered profession under AHPRA yet; so

(2) There is no exam, which in combination mean'

(3) What people are telling you is fantasy

The only courses leading to service-led authority to practice as a Paramedic in Australia are Bachelor Degrees run by a CAA accredited University, in Australia, which take a minimum of three years to complete; the only exception to this is the ASNSW as above.

A bunch of private industry dreamers have set up a little play outfit called AREMT but don't go near them with a thirty food yard pole; they're a club for hacks and wannabees that the real, proper state run Ambulance Services laugh at. Once AHPRA register Paramedics these delusionists will have to go back to using their true, proper title of first aiders because it will become illegal to call yourself a Paramedic without AHPRA registration which will require the Degree or higher (or for those who qualified prior to about 2002 the Dip Para Sci) otherwise they will be shut down and prosecuted.

In short the one and only way to become a Paramedic in Australia is to hold a Bachelors Degree in Paramedic Science from a CAA accredited university; except in New South Wales where the Dip Para Sci is still taught but both take three years and the latter takes employment with the Ambulance Service of New South Wales which getting is as rare as hens teeth mate.