Australasian College of Paramedicine International Conference (ACPIC24)

ACPIC 2024 delivered a wide range of clinical and research sessions from experts and leaders in paramedicine. Hosted in Sydney (September 2024) the program was designed to inspire, educate and broaden horizons.

Conference theme: Paramedicine's evolution – Embracing the new era

TeleHealth - Secondary Triage

This session will begin the TeleHealth series and Jackson will discuss what secondary triage is, how it is used and the role that video calls play in the secondary triage environment.

Biography: Jackson Scriven

Jackson has been a paramedic with NSW Ambulance since 2016, spending 5 years working on road as qualified paramedic and ECP in Sydney’s Western suburbs. Jackson has been working in the NSW Ambulance Virtual Clinical Care Centre (VCCC) since 2021 as a Paramedic Triage Clinician, Senior Clinician, and now Duty Manager.

TeleHealth - Telehealth on the ramp

This session forms part of a panel series looking at the broader topic of telehealth. This session will discuss the legal and ethical aspects of the use of telehealth options while ambulance crews are ramped at hospitals with patients (both in ambulances and internally).

Biography: Dr Michael Eburn

Dr Eburn is a lawyer and the author of the popular website Australian Emergency Law as well as numerous articles and a book explaining the law and how it relates to the emergency services. Formerly an Associate Professor at the ANU College of Law, Dr Eburn is now a freelance author and commentator. He has served with NSW and ACT ambulance services and was on the board of Paramedics Australasia before the merger to from the Australasian College of Paramedicine.

TeleHealth - Remote Patient Monitoring

. This will be third in the series and would be discussing the benefits and challenges of remote patient monitoring.

Biography: J.D. Heffern

J.D. is a husband, father, son, brother, uncle, leader, chronic networker, researcher, and student whom happens to be a Paramedic. Living in Canada he serves as Chief Paramedic for Indigenous Services Canada with the Government of Canada. As a second career Paramedic he has worked as a front-line Paramedic, Paramedic educator, Community Paramedic, and at various levels of Paramedic service leadership. Prior accepting his current position, J.D. was Commander with the County of Renfrew Paramedic Service facilitating a myriad of portfolios. He volunteers as council member for the International Roundtable on Community Paramedicine and is a Fellow with McNally Project for Paramedicine Research (Canada). His passion and interests are Community Paramedicine, Paramedic practice focussing on vulnerable populations, international trends and best practices and networking with like-minded individual and organisations as demonstrated by his work in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany. Turkey, and the United States. J.D. has been married to Melanie for 24 years, with three young adult daughters and his son Stanley the 120-pound Alaskan Malamute pup.

TeleHealth - Maximising the use of telehealth

Dr. Nirvana Luckraj’s session will explore how telehealth can maximize patient health outcomes from both clinician and consumer perspectives. She will discuss effective strategies, share success stories, and address challenges in telehealth implementation. After her presentation, Dr. Luckraj will join a facilitated discussion with other panellists to delve deeper into the themes covered

Biography: Dr. Nirvana Luckraj

Dr Nirvana Luckraj brings a wealth of international healthcare experience to her role as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at Healthdirect Australia. As a Fellow of the RACGP and with 30 years’ experience across four continents, Nirvana has held leadership positions in digital health, clinical artificial intelligence, medical service provision and general practice, overseeing clinical governance, quality assurance, and service delivery. Nirvana’s career has also encompassed managing medical teams across Australia, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea while managing major government and private healthcare contracts. As CMO at Healthdirect Australia, Nirvana leverages her vast experience to drive innovation in the delivery of accessible, high quality and safe digital and virtual healthcare services for all Australians.

Moderator: Dr Graham Munro, ACPIC24 Organising Committee Member