Official journal of the Irish College of Paramedics Volume 1 Issue 1 June 2016 www.irishparamedicine.com ISSN: Coverphoto: Ronan White, National Ambulance Service,Limerick, Ireland. Volume 1 Issue 1 June 2016 The Irish Journal of Paramedicine (IJP) is the official journal of the Irish A National Ambulance Service paramedic is College of Paramedics, the preparing to load a patient onto an Irish Coastguard professional body for Irish prehospital S92 as part of a major incident training exercise. emergency care practitioners. The IJP is an open access, peer- Photo courtesy Rónán White, National Ambulance reviewed, international journal Service. dedicated to advancing and promoting the science of prehospital clinical care, research, education, policy, management and operational delivery, with a focus on Irish research. Table of Contents Publisher Irish College of Paramedics Editorial Editor Mr. Alan M. Batt Welcome to the Irish Journal of Paramedicine [email protected] Alan M. Batt Editorial Board Mr. Joe Acker Dr. Mal Boyle Guest Editorial Mr. Eddie Callachan Mr. Marc Colbeck Shane Knox Mr. Eoghan Connolly Mr. Keith Colver Dr. Patrick Cotter Commentary A.Prof. Fergal Cummins Prof. Stephen Cusack Introducing the Irish Journal of Paramedicine Editorial Board Mr. Mark Dixon Mr. Ricky Ellis Mr. Darren Figgis Original Research Dr. David Fitzpatrick Mr. Damien Gaumont E-learning on the road: online learning and social media for continuing Dr. John Glasheen professional competency. Mr. David Halliwell Mr. Kieran Henry Alan M. Batt, Niamh M. Cummins Dr. Jason Horan Ms. Tania Johnston Dr. Shane Knox Decision-making processes when paramedics refer patients away from hospital: Mr. Ciaran McKenna Dr. Adrian Murphy a scoping review. Dr. David Menzies Kelly Sheffield, Peter O'Meara, Glenda Verrinder Mr. Michael Nolan Mr. Cian O'Brien Prof. Peter O'Meara Prof. Tom Quinn Professional Dr. Damien Ryan Improving Cardiac Arrest Care in Ireland Ms. Brigid Sinnott Ms. Nadine Seymour David Hennelly Dr. Marietjie Slabbert Dr. Christine Tomkinson Prof. Paresh Wankhade Mr. James Ward Conference Abstracts EMS Gathering 2016 Abstracts How to contact us [email protected] The opinions and views expressed in this journal are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the publisher or editorial board. Copyright remains with the individual author(s) of each article. IJP is an Open Access journal and articles published are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (CC BY-NC). Readers may copy, distribute, and display the work for non-commercial purposes with the proper citation of the original work. ISSN 2009-938X (Online) We deposit a copy of all Irish healthcare related articles with Lenus, the Irish Health Repository. IJP is also indexed with WorldCat and Google Scholar. Irish Journal of Paramedicine Official journal of the Irish College of Paramedics Volume 1 Issue 1 June 2016 Editorial Alan M. Batt Editor, Irish Journal of Paramedicine. [email protected] Recommended Citation Batt AM. Welcome to the Irish Journal of Paramedicine [Editorial]. Irish Journal of Paramedicine. 2016 Jun; 1(1) This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/),which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work and any attributes thereof are properly cited, are distributed under the same licence, and that the work is not used for commercial purposes. Follow the Irish Journal of Paramedicine online at www.irishparamedicine.com, on Twitter (@irishjparamed) and on Facebook. Irish Journal of Paramedicine Volume 1 Issue 1 June 2016 EDITORIAL Fáilte go dtí an Irishleabhar Parai-Mhíochaineoireacht na hÉireann Welcome to the Irish Journal of Paramedicine Alan M. Batt Editor, Irish Journal of Paramedicine Correspondence: Alan M. Batt, 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd, London, ON N5Y5R6, Canada. Email: [email protected] Welcome to the first issue of the Irish Journal of researcher. We aim to present a wide range of topics relating Paramedicine (IJP). It gives me great pleasure to launch this to clinical practice, professional issues, role development, journal, a first for Irish paramedics, and pre-hospital care in education and training, policy and service delivery, thereby Ireland. I am also honoured to announce that the IJP has been representing all aspects of paramedicine and prehospital care. adopted as the official journal of the Irish College of Our editorial board consists of respected academics, Paramedics, the professional body for prehospital emergency researchers, clinicians and educators from Ireland and abroad care practitioners in Ireland. who are committed to furthering the cause of paramedicine, A newly emerging profession, paramedicine is now and encouraging its future development of professional poised at a crossroads. Previously alluded to with colleagues standing. I am indebted to them for the time they gave so from around the globe, the role of the paramedic is one that is freely in helping to establish this journal. rapidly evolving, and yet paramedicine as a discipline has yet We strongly encourage you to submit articles, reports, to figure out where it belongs.(1) Are we public safety letters and other contributions to the journal. It is also our professionals, first responders or healthcare professionals? vision to publish abstracts of research activity undertaken by Williams has previously stated that the road less travelled Irish prehospital care providers and practitioners, which has requires the paramedic profession to pursue identity as a been presented at various conferences and scientific healthcare profession and not as emergency responders, EMS meetings, such as the EMS Gathering, and Irish College of workers, or ambulance drivers, which we are so commonly Paramedics Scientific Days to name but two. identified as.(2) Remember this is your journal and it will be as Initiatives within Ireland such as the Centre for successful as you want it to be. This journal has been a long Prehospital Research national research agenda, the move to time in the making, and we look forward to helping it to higher education for paramedics in University College Dublin develop into a true academic and clinical resource along with and the University of Limerick, and the publication of high- your assistance. Thank you. quality peer-reviewed research, undertaken for paramedics, Alan M. Batt led by paramedics, and published in paramedicine journals Editor are key components in this pursuit of professionalism. It is our hope that the Irish Journal of Paramedicine will play its Source of support/funding: None. part as a vehicle in this endeavour. Conflict of interest: AB is Editor of the IJP. It is important however to point out that the Irish Provenance and review: Commissioned, not peer - Journal of Paramedicine is not exclusively for paramedics. reviewed. Within Ireland, and around the world, there are many other prehospital care providers, including community responders, References volunteer first responders, EMT practitioners, nurses, 1. Morton J, Kloepping K, Buick J, Todd J, Batt A. The physicians and others who deliver high quality patient care evolution of the paramedic. Can Paramed. 2015;38(5). and are as committed to their personal and professional development as any paramedic. This journal is for the entire 2. Williams B, Onsman A, Brown T. Is the Australian prehospital care community, within Ireland and abroad. Paramedic Discipline a Full Profession ? J Emerg Prim Heal On behalf of the editorial board and the executive of Care. 2010;8(1):3. the Irish College of Paramedics, I would like to outline our How to cite this article: Batt AM. Welcome to the Irish vision for this journal. We aim to deliver a high quality, Journal of Paramedicine (Editorial). Irish Journal of freely accessible, peer-reviewed journal that will help to Paramedicine, 2016; 1(1). further the professionalisation of paramedicine and prehospital care provision both in Ireland and internationally. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (http:// Our aim is to provide you with access to research, creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/),which permits use, distribution, reviews, appraisals, clinical updates, case reports and and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work and any opinions that will help you to provide the best quality service attributes thereof are properly cited, are distributed under the same licence, – whether you are a student, clinician, educator, manager or and that the work is not used for commercial purposes. Content copyright remains with the authors, who grant the IJP a licence to reuse and distribute. Irish Journal of Paramedicine Official journal of the Irish College of Paramedics Volume 1 Issue 1 June 2016 Guest Editorial Dr. Shane Knox President, Irish College of Paramedics. [email protected] Recommended Citation Knox S. Guest Editorial. Irish Journal of Paramedicine. 2016 Jun; 1(1) This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/),which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work and any attributes thereof are properly