The interactions between paramedics and homeless patients and the implications on patient care provided

Introduction: Paramedics often interact with the homeless to provide care. It is important for the paramedic to be an advocate for their patient and to provide the same adequate care that they would provide any other patient. Research Question: Do the interactions between paramedics and homeless patients affect the care provided

Drowsy and dangerous? Fatigue in paramedics: an overview

BackgroundFatigue is a complex phenomenon that has effects on physical characteristics, cognition, behaviours, and physical and mental health. Paramedicine crosses the boundaries of many high-risk industries, namely medicine, transport and aviation. The effects of fatigue on paramedics thus need to be explored and considered in order to begin to identify appropriate interventions and management strategies.AimThe aim of this article was to provide an overview of fatigue in paramedics and its potential effects on various areas of paramedic practice and paramedic health, and to outline potential solutions to assess and manage the risk of fatigue in paramedics as suggested by the literature.MethodsWe conducted unstructured, non-systematic searches of the literature in order to inform an overview of the literature. An overview is a summary of the literature that attempts to survey the literature and describe its characteristics. We thematically structured the review under the following headings: defining occupational activity and health status; clinical performance and patient safety; shift length and time at work; effects on paramedic health; effects on driving abilities; fatigue risk management; and, fatigue proofing.DiscussionFatigue should be considered in the context of overall paramedic health status and paramedic occupational activity. The nature of paramedic shift work, and the associated occupational activity place paramedics at increased risk from fatigue. Shift work may also contribute to sleep disorders among paramedics. Fatigue is associated with increased errors and adverse events, increased chronic disease and injury rates, depression and anxiety, and impaired driving ability.ConclusionThe issue of fatigue in paramedicine is complex and has serious consequences for patients and paramedics. Paramedic services and paramedics need to work collaboratively to identify and action appropriate measures to reduce the effects of fatigue on the wellbeing of the workforce and mitigate its effects on clinical performance and safety

New dramaturgy: a roundtable

In 1993 in Amsterdam a landmark symposium, ‘Context 01:Active Pooling, the New Theatre’s Word-Perfect’, took place focusing on the theory and practice of contemporary theatre. The initiators of this conference started out with the recognition of a fundamental shift in the dramaturgical landscape: that “in many countries a form of theatre is being produced which answers to paradigms other than the traditional (reflected significantly in the play’s dramaturgy), and the realisation that there is currently no terminology available to describe those paradigms in all their aspects“(Van Kerkhoven: 1995). This new paradigm, new dramaturgy, a process-oriented way of working, gained not only a name, but a growing terminology, case studies of its processes, and explorations of the questions it posed