Mental health and mental illness in paramedic practice: A warrant for research and inquiry into accounts of paramedic clinical judgment and decision-making

Abstract

<jats:p>Summary This paper is the first in a series that heralds a study examining paramedic accounts and constructs of judgment and decision-making (JDM) of mental health and mental illness. Providing an introduction and background to the evolving study, the paper will establish a warrant for the research and scope of the research agenda and methods of inquiry.</jats:p>

Paramedic clinical judgment of mental illness: Representations of official accounts

“…7,8 Analysis of these documents illustrated an anomaly in official accounts as described by the original warrant for the research by Shaban. 1 From this analysis, a series of questions were formulated for use in semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders of the research problem that on analysis will provide insight into the 'official responses' to prescriptive accounts and constructs. Of paramount interest at this stage in data collection was how paramedics might be expected account for their judgments considering the prevailing official standards and guidelines, and how the prevailing policies, or normative accounts (how judgments should be made and accounted for) mandate or are mandated by practice.…”

A Critical Analysis of Debates Around Mental Health Calls in the Prehospital Setting

“…Yet another issue we would like to explore and problematize is the suggestion that increased mental health call volumes for paramedics should be addressed with further training 18 , 20 - 22 , 32 and more and better mental health services in the community. 3 , 14 , 16 , 19 Surely both suggestions are useful—all else equal.…”

Perceptions of paramedics and emergency staff about the care they provide to people who self-harm: Constructivist metasynthesis of the qualitative literature

“…All of the studies surrounding paramedic management of mental health emergencies are from Australia [28,30,[38][39][40]; however, there are significant differences in paramedic education and legislation. Despite this, there is similar detail of confusion revealed by paramedics in Shaban [30]:…”