Date of Award
2002
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Alan Cohen
Committee Member
Don Busche
Committee Member
Linda Howard
Keywords
California Code of Regulations, Crafton Hills College, Department of Transportation, Emergency Services Division, National Standard Paramedic Curriculum, administrative teams, clinical competencies, clinical education, clinical exposures, competency assessment, curriculum, emergency medical services, evaluation, field competencies, field exposures, formative evaluation, implementation, leadership, literature review, local medical experts, paramedic education, paramedic students, patient etiologies, performance checklist, performance evaluation, prehospital care, problem solving, regulations, skills, standards, summative evaluation, survey instrument, training, validation
Abstract
Changes in the regulations for paramedic education have recently been adopted (DOT HS 808 862 National Standard Paramedic Curriculum, 1998). The Crafton Hills College Paramedic program is required to meet these regulations, and as a requirement of the regulations, document the attainment of the required competencies to achieve paramedic course completion. No performance checklist existed within the Crafton Hills College paramedic program that tracks and documents the clinical and field exposures of the graduates that includes national, state, and local requirements. The purpose of this study was to develop, with plans to implement and evaluate, a performance checklist specific to paramedic education at Crafton Hills College.
There were three research questions for this study. The questions were, "What are the clinical and field competencies that should be included in a performance checklist for paramedic education at Crafton Hills College?" "How should the clinical and field performance checklist be implemented in the Crafton Hills College Paramedic program?" "How should the performance checklist for the clinical and field competencies in the Crafton Hills College paramedic program be evaluated?" The development and evaluation problem solving methodologies were the primary methods used in this study to develop the performance-based checklist. Plans for the implementation and evaluation were also developed. The procedures used for this study included a review of the literature, establishing formative and summative committees, establishing criteria and developing and validating a survey instrument obtaining the opinion of local medical experts, and developing the implementation and evaluation plans. The final procedure was the transmission of all of the products of the study to the administrative teams at Crafton Hills College Emergency Services Division.
The results of the study outline the specific paramedic competencies as those listed in the national standard curriculum, the California Code of Regulations for paramedic clinical and field training requirements, and the skills and patient etiologies required in the local emergency medical system requirements. The performance checklist should be implemented and evaluated according to the approved and validated plans.
It is recommended that the performance checklist begin with the next group of Crafton Hills College paramedic students. This study also recommends that each group of paramedic competencies be further defined, and the process of leadership in the unstable and unpredictable environment of prehospital care be explored.