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

Conscious state assessment in emergency ambulance calls in Western Australia

Ambulance services worldwide use primary triage algorithms to conduct rapid systematic triage of incoming emergency calls, to allocate appropriate resources and priorities. There is an anecdotal view amongst frontline ambulance paramedics that patients are frequently incorrectly assessed as “not alert” and thus over-triaged. We analysed a year’s worth of emergency calls to understand the accuracy of this assessment, and compared to patient acuity to find which patients would benefit from a better triage assessment and understanding of their conscious state.

Biography: Jason Belcher

Jason is a clinical manager and paramedic with St John WA, and completing a Master's degree by research at Curtin University focussing on assessment of patient conscious state during emergency calls. He has worked in the prehospital care field for over 10 years as a frontline paramedic and in health service liaison and secondary triage roles before joining the clinical governance team. He has interests in patient safety, telephone triage and telehealth, and systems for recognising patient deterioration.

Moderated by: Clare Sutton, Senior Lecturer, Paramedicine, Charles Sturt University