Paramedics focus on primary health care
Regional Victoria will lead Australia with a ground-breaking paramedic course being introduced by La Trobe University at country campuses next year.
The new course follows $62 million of Commonwealth Government funding to the University for its new Rural Health School at Bendigo, part of La Trobe’s Regional Strategic Plan.
Designed in collaboration with Ambulance Victoria, the course has a strong emphasis on health promotion and chronic disease management.
Dr Amanda Kenny, Director of Health Sciences at the Bendigo campus, says paramedics are ‘fantastically placed to lead health reform’.
‘Their work is community based and there are many opportunities for them to take a role in chronic disease management and preventative health, as well providing emergency care.’
She says the course embraces many of the points highlighted in reports of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission and the Australian Learning and Teaching Council. These emphasised the need for strengthened primary health care services.
‘It has been designed to prepare graduates far better for work, as well as meet the needs of a rapidly changing health care system,’ says Dr Kenny.
‘It also answers many of the criticisms of paramedic training in Australia, in that it will enable graduates to gain skills of resilience, communication and teamwork that are required for the job.’
Dean of Health Sciences, Professor Hal Swerissen, says the Bachelor of Health Sciences - Master of Paramedic Practice course has already generated massive interest.
‘The roles of paramedics are the most interesting, varied and challenging in health, and our new course will provide graduates with the knowledge and skill to meet the demand of the future health care system’.
He says the course is ideal for rural and regional areas where health practice is characterised by diversity and meeting a broad range of challenges on daily basis.
When fully operational, Professor Swerissen says the La Trobe Rural Heath School will significantly increase opportunities for regional students to study high-quality, high-demand health science courses across Northern Victoria.
Students will be able to start their studies on any La Trobe regional campus, completing their first year at Bendigo, Wodonga, Mildura or Shepparton. Subsequent years will be taught from the Bendigo campus and in professional placements across Northern Victorian.
It is expected the new La Trobe Rural Health School – which is also expanding course offerings next year in podiatry and speech pathology, two fields in which there are also major workforce shortages – will increase enrolments in health sciences by seventy per cent over the next four years.