Development of physical employment standards of specialist paramedic roles in the National Ambulance Resilience Unit (Naru)

Siddall, A. G., Rayson, M. P., Walker, E. F., Doherty, J., Osofa, J. I., Flood, T. R., Hale, B. J., Myers, S. D. and Blacker, S. D. (2021) Development of physical employment standards of specialist paramedic roles in the National Ambulance Resilience Unit (Naru). Applied Ergonomics, 95. ISSN 0003-6870

[thumbnail of This is an accepted article that has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication in Applied Ergonomics. Published version available:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2021.103460] Text (This is an accepted article that has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication in Applied Ergonomics. Published version available:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2021.103460)
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Abstract

Aim: To develop evidence-based role-specific physical employment standards and tests for National Ambulance Resilience Unit (NARU) specialist paramedics.

Methods: Sixty-two (53 men, 9 women) paramedics performed an array of (1) realistic reconstructions of critical job-tasks (criterion job performance); (2) simplified, easily-replicable simulations of those reconstructions and; (3) fitness tests that are portable and/or practicable to administer with limited resources or specialist equipment. Pearson’s correlations and ordinary least products regression were used to assess relationships between tasks and tests. Performance on reconstructions, subject-matter expert and participant ratings were combined to derive minimum acceptable job performance levels, which were used to determine cut-scores on appropriate correlated simulations and tests.

Results: The majority of performance times were highly correlated with their respective simulations (range of r: 0.73-0.90), with the exception of those replicating water rescue (r range: 0.28-0.47). Regression compatibility intervals provided three cut-scores for each job-task on an appropriate simulation and fitness test.

Conclusion: This study provides a varied and easily-implementable physical capability assessment for NARU personnel, empirically linked to job performance, with flexible options depending on organisational requirements.

Publication Type: Articles
Additional Information: © 2021. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Uncontrolled Keywords: Physical employment standards, Paramedics, Fitness, Occupational demands
Subjects: Q Science > Q Science (General)
Q Science > QP Physiology
Divisions: Academic Areas > Institute of Sport > Area > Exercise Physiology
Related URLs:
Depositing User: Sam Blacker
Date Deposited: 20 May 2021 08:32
Last Modified: 12 May 2023 01:10
URI: https://eprints.chi.ac.uk/id/eprint/5750

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