IntroductionA robust professional identity is a known predictor of personal and professional satisfaction and is viewed as foundational to successful practice in health occupations. Despite this, there is a gap in the research on paramedic identity (PI). Using the Macleod Clark Professional Identity Scale (MCPIS-9), the primary objective of this study was to measure the self-reported professional identity of paramedic students during their university studies. A secondary objective was to determine potential predictor variables for professional identity.MethodA convenience sample of 102 paramedic students at a single university campus participated in this descriptive cross sectional study. An electronic, purpose designed survey recorded demographic information, background characteristics as well as the self-reported strength of student PI using the MCPIS-9. Results66.7% of participants were women and 46% were between the ages of 19–24 years; 75% reported no prior education in health care and 82% indicated paramedicine was their first choice of study. Most students (82%) had no prior paramedic-related work or volunteer experience. The mean MCPIS-9 score was 38.8/45 with a standard deviation of 4.9. There were no statistical differences associated with PI scores and demographics or background factors, however, some interesting trends were observed in the data. The only variable found as a significant predictor of MCPIS-9 scores was the student’s year of study. Conclusion Paramedic students in our study reported a strong sense of professional identity which had a tendency to increase from year-to-year. There appears to be a predictive relationship between year of study and strength of professional identity. We found that the self-reported strength of paramedic students’ identity does not specifically correlate with gender or previous education. However, those with prior paramedic type experience who selected paramedicine as their first choice of study may experience a stronger professional identity. Further studies and subsequent replication of our findings will determine whether or not we can make solid inferences from our sample to paramedic students in general. 

No abstract

This article presents the current state of the literature regarding the use of simulation in the field of paramedicine. It provides the reader with an overview on the current knowledge with the view to inform and foster innovation and development around simulation in paramedic education. We hope that other researchers will use this work to further inform and develop their simulations, not only for the purposes of assessment but also for learning and teaching in paramedicine.

Valuing Indigenous culture is a requirement for teaching at the Charles Sturt University and we enact this on the Port Macquarie and dubbo campuses through the principles of Indigenous pedagogy/andragogy (IP). In this paper we share our experiences of IP-inspired learning activities, in particular our use of the 8 Aboriginal Ways of Learning (Yunkaporta, 2009), to increase student engagement with anatomy and physiology and support the retention of Indigenous students in their first year of university study. Indeed, we propose that this approach will increase the educational success of all students.

Research has shown that students feel overwhelmed by the amount of information covered in first year anatomy and physiology subjects (Eagleton, 2015). In this paper, we present an activity designed to facilitate learning of the organization of the human skeletal system and anatomical directional terms used to help describe it. Learning styles and the effect of body painting was also investigated.Two studies are described and each were analysed separately both quantitatively (pre-and post-test scores) and qualitatively (surveys).Body painting did not affect the number of directional terms included in the concept maps. The most common term used was "superior" and the least was "superficial". Students applied the greatest number of directional terms to the lower limb, upper limb and vertebral column. Knowledgeable students gained no benefit from the body painting activity and from completing the concept map test a second time, whereas, the students who were naïve to the content benefited significantly from repeated testing and from body painting.Students need scaffolding, practise and feedback to construct concept maps. Adapting the concept map tests increased student engagement and the objectivity of scoring. Learning style did not have an effect on learning outcomes of the students in this study.