I had the pleasure of speaking to attendees at the 2024 Ontario Base Hospital Group Annual General Meeting in Ottawa this morning. My talk was titled “Time for change – progressing paramedicine in Ontario”.
The key items I raised in the talk were:
1. A description of practice that ignores context and is outdated
2. Inconsistent entry-to-practice education, that remains largely vocational in in mindset
3. A lack of postgraduate education to prepare for specialist roles
4. No clear career progression pathways
5. An inability to tailor scope of practice to community needs
6. An outdated and restrictive regulatory model, that is not led by the profession
I proposed some ideas that will help us to address these issues and further progress paramedicine in Ontario:
1. Implement and maintain the NCFP
2. Support the need for degree level education
3. Develop postgraduate education and advanced practice roles to meet needs
4. Support and create career progression along diverse pathways
5. Stop talking about scope as a skill-set, allow flexibility and individualized scope
6. Implement a contemporary, profession-led regulatory model
Thanks to Frank St-Jean and colleagues at RPPEO for the invite to speak!