Whether in the case of injuries, traffic accidents or poisoning – in many cases an emergency doctor is on duty alongside the rescue service team – and this, although this would hardly be needed in 80 percent of cases, if the paramedics were better trained. However, the current legal situation only allows them to take appropriate medical measures without an emergency doctor being present in exceptional cases. The Medical Association has already warned of a shortage of emergency doctors (the OÖN reported).
The Federal Association of Rescue Services is now also calling for better training for paramedics. “The number of trips by the emergency doctors is increasing and they are often used to replace the existing shortage of country doctors. It would therefore be a great relief if the paramedics were trained accordingly,” says Clemens Kaltenberger from the Federal Association of Rescue Services.
reform of the legal situation
The paramedic law has existed in Austria for exactly 20 years – “In all these years there have been no changes from the legal side to create a corresponding professional profile for paramedics and thus relieve the burden on the health system,” says Kaltenberger.
For Kaltenberger, it is only understandable that the paramedics call in emergency doctors to protect themselves in the event of an accident. “Since being a paramedic isn’t an actual profession, they don’t enjoy professional protection either.”
When it comes to paramedic training, Austria lags behind in an international comparison. While in other European countries the paramedics usually go through a three-year training, in Austria this is limited to around 480 hours in two modules – a combination of 160 hours of theoretical training, 40 hours of hospital internship and 280 hours in the rescue service.
“The politicians assumed that volunteers would report for the rescue service anyway and that they might be deterred from a longer training. But quite the opposite: actually everyone would benefit from it: the paramedics, the health system and above all the patients,” says Kaltenberger . (cape)
Source: Nachrichten
