A visiting professor of pre-hospital care at Charles Sturt University (CSU), who still finds time to work shifts as an ‘ambulance officer’, says the similarities between the paramedic profession in Australia and Great Britain are greater than the differences.

 

Professor Malcolm Woollard, Director of the Pre-hospital, Emergency and Cardiovascular Applied Research Group in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at Coventry University in the United Kingdom (UK), is in Australia for six weeks as a visiting and adjunct professor at the CSU School of Biomedical Sciences at Bathurst. He has a range of qualifications in paramedicine, nursing, education and business administration, and numerous professional honours, as well as roles in professional associations and on journal editorial boards.

 

“While paramedics in the UK have to attain national standards and be registered, unlike in Australia at the present, the education of paramedics is very similar with both countries moving to require minimum tertiary qualifications for employment in this field,” Professor Woollard said.

 

This is Professor Woollard’s second visit to CSU and his fourth to Australia. He is using the visit to advance two research projects he is undertaking with Associate Professor Peter O’Meara, the Associate Head of the CSU School of Biomedical Sciences at Bathurst, into the paramedic use of acupuncture, and the use of different music to assist cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

 

“Paramedic research in Australia is ahead of the UK, with more paramedics studying for a PhD here than in the UK,” Professor Woollard said. “Presently, there are four or five paramedics with a PhD in Australia, with another 20 or so candidates – three at Charles Sturt University – studying for PhDs or professional doctorates.

 

“I am supervising two higher degree paramedic students at the University, and have also been involved with a professional writing group which has already resulted in four recent publications in a peer-reviewed journal.

 

“And whenever I get the chance, I love to get out on the road in an ambulance and do a few shifts as a practicing paramedic to remind me what all this teaching and research is about,” he said.