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Implementing community paramedicine: A known player in a new role. A narrative review

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posted on 2024-02-26, 21:28 authored by Evelien SpeltenEvelien Spelten, Brodie Thomas, Julia Van-VuurenJulia Van-Vuuren, Ruth HardmanRuth Hardman, David Burns, P O'Meara, Louise Reynolds
Background: Community Paramedicine is a model of care which is effective and accepted by health professionals and the community. Community paramedicine delivers low acuity primary care to disadvantaged communities and addresses service gaps. We aimed to identify successful implementation of community paramedicine models and signalled opportunities and challenges. Methods: A narrative review was conducted. We identified 14 literature reviews from four databases EMBASE, CINAHL, PubMed, Cochrane. The results from the thematic analysis were structured along the quadruple aim for healthcare redesign framework. Results: The reviews supported acceptability of the model. Patients are satisfied and there is evidence of cost reduction. Long term evidence of the positive effects of community paramedicine on patient, community health and the health system are lacking. Equally, there is unfamiliarity about the role and how it is part of an integrated health model. Conclusions: Community paramedicine could alleviate current stresses in the healthcare system and uses an available workforce of registered paramedics. To facilitate integration, we need more evidence on long-term effects for patients and the system. In addition, the unfamiliarity with the model needs to be addressed to enhance the uptake of the model.

History

Publication Date

2024-03-01

Journal

Australasian Emergency Care

Volume

27

Issue

1

Pagination

21-25

Publisher

Elsevier

ISSN

2588-994X

Rights Statement

© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of College of Emergency Nursing Australasia. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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