Mental Health of Australian and New Zealand Paramedicine Students: An Unexplored Phenomenon
Tracks
Monarch - In-Person Only
| Monday, March 3, 2025 |
| 2:20 PM - 2:40 PM |
| Monarch Room |
Overview
Dr Buck Reed, Charles Sturt University
Presenter
Dr Buck Reed
Lecturer in Paramedicine
Charles Sturt University
Mental Health of Australian and New Zealand Paramedicine Students: An unexplored phenomenon
Presentation Overview
There are around 8000 students currently enrolled in 23 paramedicine courses in Australia and New Zealand. These courses produce around 2000 new registered paramedics per year into the two jurisdictions. Paramedicine students experience a wide range of challenges including demanding academic schedules, cost of living stress associated with studying, and multiple workplace-integrated learning placements in paramedic and other health settings. Despite the significant data collected on the mental health of paramedics, there is a paucity of data collected about the mental health of paramedicine students.
Data on the education of paramedics in wellness and self-care is limited at best. A 2023 study of paramedic wellness curriculum in universities suggested that only a handful of courses were teaching any significant level of self-care or wellness for students. Additionally, there is no coordinated approach to teaching wellness and self-care in Australian universities, with most adopting an ad hoc approach based around local expertise or interest. The lack of consistency in wellness education likely provides a significant variety in quality and intensity of wellness education to students before they enter the workforce.
Given the nature of paramedic practice, and the increasing mental health issues in university students in general, there is a strong case for an examination of wellness education and supports for paramedicine students. High quality training is likely to increase completion of courses, reduce or moderate underlying mental health issues in new paramedics, and increase wellness literacy amongst the paramedicine workforce. This may also produce cost and resource savings for paramedicine service providers by shifting wellness education more significantly into the education sector and producing employees with a wider range of wellness and self-care skills.
Presentation Key Learnings:
1. Paramedicine students are undereducation on wellness and safe care.
2. Greater university education will produce a more emotionally flexible and robust workforce.
3. More research is needed to examine the full extent of mental health impacts on paramedicine students and find optimal approached to wellness education.
Data on the education of paramedics in wellness and self-care is limited at best. A 2023 study of paramedic wellness curriculum in universities suggested that only a handful of courses were teaching any significant level of self-care or wellness for students. Additionally, there is no coordinated approach to teaching wellness and self-care in Australian universities, with most adopting an ad hoc approach based around local expertise or interest. The lack of consistency in wellness education likely provides a significant variety in quality and intensity of wellness education to students before they enter the workforce.
Given the nature of paramedic practice, and the increasing mental health issues in university students in general, there is a strong case for an examination of wellness education and supports for paramedicine students. High quality training is likely to increase completion of courses, reduce or moderate underlying mental health issues in new paramedics, and increase wellness literacy amongst the paramedicine workforce. This may also produce cost and resource savings for paramedicine service providers by shifting wellness education more significantly into the education sector and producing employees with a wider range of wellness and self-care skills.
Presentation Key Learnings:
1. Paramedicine students are undereducation on wellness and safe care.
2. Greater university education will produce a more emotionally flexible and robust workforce.
3. More research is needed to examine the full extent of mental health impacts on paramedicine students and find optimal approached to wellness education.
Biography
Dr. Buck Reed is a lecturer in paramedicine at Charles Sturt University with over a decade of academic teaching and research and 18 years of clinical practice. He is a Registered Paramedic in Australia who had practiced in both rural and metropolitan settings and still practices clinically. Buck received a Churchill Fellowship in 2013 and was the first paramedic accepted into the NSW Health Rural Research Capacity Building Program in 2009. Buck’s research focus is the intersection of paramedicine and social sciences, paramedic wellness and professionalisation.
