PMED2010 Ambulance Operations Course description

Ambulance Operations mainly covers the planning, organisation, implementation and evaluation of ambulance jobs, including the management and organisation of other health care resources and cooperation and interaction with other emergency agencies or partners. The course focuses on the structure and organisation of the rescue services in Norway, own safety, patient safety, critical missions, use of communication equipment, and general incident site work.

The student must have passed the first year of the programme or equivalent, except the second part of the exam in drug calculations in the course PMED1300.

After completing the course, the student should have the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student

• can describe the structure and organisation of the rescue service in Norway and the health services of the armed forces.
• can explain how the ambulance service, including the emergency medical communication centre (AMK), is organised.
• can explain how health operational management is organised, and account for the functions and working methods of key leadership roles in the prehospital health service.
• can describe how collaborating actors are organised and led at the incident site.
• can recognise missions with specific operational challenges.
• can describe what is classified as hazardous goods and dangerous substances (CBRNE), and how to handle these in an ambulance operational context.
• can describe the use of risk analysis in emergency preparedness work and challenges related to patient safety in operational work.
• can describe how to conduct triage in mass casualty situations.
• can explain the role of the health service in total defence.
• can describe potential decision traps in operational work.
• can explain the role of technological innovation and development in equality, justice, sustainable development, and societal participation.
• can describe how technological infrastructures shape and support society and the welfare state.
• is familiar with the levels in the S-pyramid and can describe the difference between individual studies and syntheses of studies, such as systematic reviews, qualitative and quantitative studies, and knows how to use checklists for different study designs, clinical guidelines, and professional procedures.

Skills

The student

• can apply knowledge of laws, regulations, and guidelines related to work at the incident site and collaboration with other agencies.
• can apply principles for leading the health service’s efforts in the early phase of incident site work.
• can plan, lead, and organise the health service’s efforts at an incident site.
• can exercise situational leadership and contribute to cooperation with other health resources, emergency services, and partners in incident site work.
• can apply basic models for decision-making in operational work and describe potential decision traps in operational work.
• can master digital radio communication in interaction with relevant actors.
• can plan, lead, and organise the health service’s efforts at an incident site.
• can apply knowledge of operational challenges and the use of relevant equipment.
• can conduct a risk assessment and implement measures to ensure the health and safety of oneself, the patient, and others.
• can act responsibly at a crime scene when there is suspicion of criminal activity.
• can apply critical and analytical strategies to evaluate and critically discuss the opportunities and challenges of existing and potential technologies, and interpret the processes where information and misinformation are distinguished, communicated, and used in various contexts.
• can formulate searchable professional/clinical questions using, for example, PICO and variations of PICO, and plan and conduct a simple, systematic search strategy for professional/clinical questions from the top of the S-pyramid.

General competence

The student

• can contribute to preventive emergency preparedness work, evaluation, and follow-up of their own personnel after incidents and exercises.
• can exchange experiences and share their own expertise to contribute to the planning, organisation, and execution of comprehensive health services.
• can discuss key sustainability challenges and the potential impact of new technologies and digitalisation processes at both individual and societal levels.
• can understand how digitalisation and digital technologies enable and shape interdisciplinary collaboration and can communicate concepts and models related to the use of technology in a structured manner.
• can explain the importance of user knowledge, experiential knowledge, and summarised research in clinical decision-making and the importance of user-oriented perspectives in the use and development of technology.
• can discuss ethical, social, and political challenges that arise at the intersection of technology and society.
• can investigate relevant and real-world issues from multiple perspectives and critically assess health claims in the media.
• can identify targeted knowledge-based preventive measures to reduce the incidence of serious accidents and injuries.

The work and teaching methods vary between lectures, simulation and skills training, study groups and self-study.

The students´ complete simulation and skills training in the use of relevant communication equipment, ICT equipment linked to operational factors, standard operating procedures´ (SOPs´), and leadership, triage and decision-making.

The following must have been approved in order for the student to take the exam:

• Minimum attendance of 80% in student groups.
• Minimum attendance of 90% in simulation and skills training, including exercises

Individual written home exam over two weeks, 3000 words (+/- 10 %)

All aids are permitted, as long as the rules for source referencing are followed.

Grade scale A-F.

All answers are assessed by two examiners. An external examiner is used regularly, at a minimum of every third completion of the course. When selecting answers for external evaluation, a minimum of 10 percent of the answers shall be included, with no fewer than 5 answers. The external examiner’s assessment of the selected answers shall benefit all students.

• 10 credits overlap with PARA3000 Ambulance Operations
• 10 credits overlap with PMED2000 Ambulance Operations and Patient Safety
• 3 credits overlap with PMED1070 Technology and Society
• 2 credits overlap with PMED1060 Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) in Health Care