Bolster, J. L., & Batt, A. M. (2023). An Analysis of Drug Use-Related Curriculum Documents for Paramedic Students in British Columbia. Cureus, 15(11).
Bolster, J. L., & Batt, A. M. (2023). An Analysis of Drug Use-Related Curriculum Documents for Paramedic Students in British Columbia. Cureus, 15(11).
Bolster, J. L., & Batt, A. M. (2023). An Analysis of Drug Use-Related Curriculum Documents for Paramedic Students in British Columbia. Cureus, 15(11).
Bolster, J. L., & Batt, A. M. (2023). An Analysis of Drug Use-Related Curriculum Documents for Paramedic Students in British Columbia. Cureus, 15(11).
Abstract
Background and Aims: Paramedics attend an unprecedented number of drug poisoning events daily in British Columbia (BC), Canada due to the ongoing public health crisis related to an increasingly toxic and unregulated supply of illicit drugs. Paramedics have the potential to support alternative models of care to reduce harm, but their perspectives towards harm reduction initiatives are polarized. Understanding the drug-related substance use content in paramedic curriculum documents is important for deploying effective harm mitigating programs. The objective of this study was to understand what drug-related substance use content currently exists within paramedic curriculum documents in British Columbia. Methods: We performed a document analysis of curriculum documents in BC’s paramedic training institutions, the primary program textbook, and the 2011 National Occupational Competency Profile (NOCP). We used the Checklist for Assessment and Reporting of Document Analysis (CARDA) tool to perform our analysis. We analysed and coded documents both inductively and deductively and subsequently combined, refined, and used the codes to inform the development of themes via reflexive thematic analysis. Results: Of the 44 documents analysed, 22 included codes relevant to the research questions. Paramedics are primarily taught to care for people who use drugs in an acute drug-poisoning response only, with little consideration of holistic care, and no meaningful mention of harm reduction. Some stigmatizing language was found within the content. Conclusions: Many opportunities to introduce holistic models of care for people who use drugs along the entire continuum of care are unaddressed by paramedic curriculum documents in BC. Curriculum developers should include people who have lived and living experience of drug use in the co-design of educational programs involving their care. Further qualitative analyses are required to evaluate the relationship between paramedic education and provider-based stigma.
Keywords
Emergency Health Services; Addiction; Substance Use Disorder; Paramedicine
Subject
Public Health and Healthcare, Public Health and Health Services
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
