Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

• Physical health in mental health: considerations for paramedics

  Cromar-Hayes, Maxine; Seaton, Walter (2020-01)

  Abstract published with permission. Life expectancy for people with a mental illness diagnosis is 15–20 years less than those without, mainly because of poor physical health. Mental ill health affects a significant proportion of paramedics' patients, and practitioners could assess and promote their physical health even though contact time is limited. Factors affecting physical health include substandard and disjointed care, stigma and diagnostic overshadowing—where physical symptoms are dismissed as a feature of mental illness. Diagnostic overshadowing is not discussed in key paramedic literature, although patients with mental health problems are at risk of not having their physical needs being taken seriously. The paramedic's role in health promotion is receiving more attention. Making Every Contact Count (MECC)—a behaviour change model using brief interaction—could be adopted by paramedics to promote physical health, especially when linked to campaigns and local services. Health promotion is in its early days in paramedicine, and paramedics could learn from the experiences of other professions. (Abstract published with permission).
• Trends, variations and prediction of staff sickness absence rates among NHS ambulance services in England: a time series study

  Asghar, Zahid; Wankhade, Paresh; Bell, Fiona; Sanderson, Kristy; Hird, Kelly; Phung, Viet-Hai; Siriwardena, Aloysius (2021-09-29)

  Our aim was to measure ambulance sickness absence rates over time, comparing ambulance services and investigate the predictability of rates for future forecasting. https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/9/e053885 This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-053885
• Decision making for refusals of treatment—a framework to consider

  Jones, Steven; Williams, Barry; Monteith, Paul (2014-04)

  Abstract published with permission. Challenges to practice are encountered on a daily basis by paramedics that often share many common recurring themes around consent or refusal to treatment. The benefits of training and open debate acknowledge the often complex decisions relating to consent and mental capacity and reduce opportunities for future legal challenge. How the law should be integrated into everyday decision making will be examined and a framework proposed to assist practice for defendable decision making. This article was inspired following joint training undertaken with paramedics and local critical incident managers from the police, which highlighted a need for a practical decision-making framework to be available for application during incidents and for use as an analytical tool to aid post-decision reflection and learning at debrief.