International internship experience for emergency medical service paramedic students

Experiential Learning for Psychomotor Skills Development of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Students: An Action Research

Background

Experiential learning is useful for fostering the development of a wide range of clinical and practical skills. This study aimed to determine the usefulness of experiential learning for psychomotor skills development of emergency medical services (EMS) students.

Methods

An action research approach was used because it is useful for linking theory with action and practice. The Field Internship Student Data Acquisition Project (FISDAP) tool was used to assess and monitor students’ performance and competencies achievement in psychomotor skills. The study was conducted at Prince Sultan College for Emergency Medical Services (PSCEMS), King Saud University (KSU). Skills performance of 71 EMS students were analysed in the experiential learning implemented throughout the curriculum over 3 years.

Results

The finding indicates that the students’ skills performance falls below the minimum requirement during the clinical practicum and significantly improves during the time of internship period. The overall success rate ranges between 26.58% and 35.74% across all the psychomotor skills, whereas during the internship year student’s success rate ranges between 85.49% and 99.4% across all the psychomotor skills.

Conclusion

The findings of this study are promising and show that experiential learning is a useful and effective way to develop psychomotor skills and competencies in EMS students. Educators and policymakers can use the findings for strategizing policies for curriculum planning and development.

Paramedic student encounters with patients during clinical placements: A multi-institutional cohort study

OBJECTIVE

Paramedic students in the US are required to complete clinical placements to gain supervised experience with real patient encounters. Given wide variation in clinical placement practices, an evidence-based approach is needed to guide programs in setting realistic and attainable goals for students. This study's goal was to describe patient encounters and hours logged by paramedic students during clinical placements.

METHODS

A retrospective review of prospectively collected quality assurance data entered by US paramedic students between 2010 and 2014 was conducted. De-identified electronic records entered in the Field Internship Student Data Acquisition Project (FISDAP) Skill Tracker database were included from consenting paramedic students whose records were audited and approved by instructors. Descriptive statistics were calculated.

RESULTS

A total of 10,645 students encountered 2,239,027 patients; most encounters occurred in hospital settings (n = 1,311,967, 59%). The median total number of patient encounters per paramedic student was 206 (142-269) and the median total clinical placement hours per student was 626 (504-752). The median number of team leads per student was 56 (30-84). Students encountered a median of 22 (12-31) pediatric patients, ages 0-12 years, and 181 (126-238) adolescent or adult patients. For pediatric patient encounters, the most common clinical impressions were respiratory distress, other medical complaints, and extremity trauma. Among adult patient encounters, the most common clinical impressions included other medical, trauma, and cardiac conditions.

CONCLUSIONS

US paramedic students experienced a variable range of patient encounter types and volumes. The findings of this study offer an evidence base from which programs can set realistic and attainable clinical placement requirements.