Australasian College of Paramedicine International Conference (ACPIC 2022)

ACPIC 2022 delivered a wide range of clinical and research sessions from experts and leaders in paramedicine. Hosted in Brisbane (September 2022) the program was designed to inspire, educate and broaden horizons.

Conference theme: Embracing Strengths | Shaping Futures

Mental Health and Sedation

QAS Mental Health Response Program - Presented by Sandra Garner

The Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) provides timely and quality emergency and non-emergency services to Queenslanders each day. This includes people experiencing a mental health crisis situation, which can include acute behavioural disturbance.
The QAS receives up to 180 mental health related Triple Zero (000) calls a day from throughout the state. These calls are for people experiencing a range of complex physical, social and psychological condition from anyone in the community. The QAS is often the first step to accessing help for a mental health condition or the last, when all else has been tried.
The QAS considers mental health crisis as a broad range of conditions, including risk to self or others, poor decision-making capacities/capabilities, distress and abnormal behaviours. These presentations are marked by distress, which includes an inability to cope and the requirement for alleviation of the presenting symptoms.
The QAS Mental Health Response Program aims to create a better everyday life for people experiencing a mental health crisis. It provides timely and appropriate ambulance/health responses, to deliver people the best opportunity for positive mental health and well-being and to lives with meaning and purpose.

Medicines for the Management of the Acutely Agitated Patient – Practice Points and Considerations - Presented by Dr Jason Waddell

Acute behaviour disturbance is an increasing problem faced by ambulance officers, the causes of which are diverse. Management of these patients is multi-modal including non-pharmacological methods, including taking a detailed history where possible and using verbal de-escalation where possible. Medicines play an important role in the care of these patient but must be used cautiously and judiciously to ensure optimal outcomes. This presentation will briefly review the pharmacology, place in therapy, precautions and adverse effects for medicines commonly used to treat agitated patients in the pre-hospital setting.

Safe sedation practice - Presented by Marty Nichols

This session will provide an overview of the considerations and practices associated with safe sedation practices. This will include assessment, decision making, planning, targeted sedation, post sedation management and documentation.

Biographies

Sandra Garner - Sandra is a Registered Psychologist with over two decades of experience working in front line mental health services across community, forensic and acute settings; in clinical, management, service development and research capacities. Sandra has also worked in public health policy, workforce and leadership development roles within the public and non-government mental health sectors and continues to provide clinical leadership and service development support to numerous not for profit mental health service providers.
For the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) Sandra provides specialised and strategic mental health leadership and advice to paramedics and service managers, ensuring the delivery of co-ordinated, safe and contemporary pre-hospital care for people experiencing mental health crisis.
Sandra leads the development, implementation and evaluation of a variety of initiatives to improve the delivery of mental health services provided by QAS. These initiatives include, implementing Mental Health Clinicians in the Communications Centre, providing access to meaningful and timely mental heath information, advice and assistance to paramedics and Communications Centre staff in real time. Also, Mental Health Co-responders, working with on-road paramedics to respond to people experiencing a mental health crisis in their own homes. These initiatives, along with improvements to QAS paramedic education, training and support will go towards reducing the anxiety and fear paramedics experience when responding to people in a mental health crisis in the community.
Sandra is passionate about developing the mental health crisis response sector, to create better everyday life for people in crisis, by responding to people in a timely, appropriate and individualised way, which provide people with the best opportunity for positive mental health and well being to live lives with meaning and purpose.

Jason Waddell - Jason is a Specialist Pharmacist working with the Queensland Ambulance Service to ensure the quality use of medicines in the pre-hospital setting. He has worked in various roles in the health system, including clinical and management roles in public hospital pharmacy departments in a wide range of speciality areas. In 2021 he completed his PhD in pharmacy practice at the Queensland University of Technology.

Marty Nichols - Paramedic Specialist with NSW Ambulance. Experience in a variety of clinical roles that include: Intensive Care Paramedic, Critical Care Paramedic, Special Operations, Rescue Paramedic and Flight Paramedic. Until 2021 worked as a Critical Care Paramedic Educator at the NSW Ambulance ACE Training Centre for five years. Now Associate Director of Clinical Practice. Devoted to furthering the paramedicine profession. This has led to roles on the colleges board of directors and as a member of the Paramedicine Accreditation Committee in Australia.

Moderated by: Lucy Oately, Organising Committee Chair and Intensive Care Paramedic, Ambulance Tasmania