The role of the law in the professionalisation of paramedicine in Australia

The paramedic discipline has developed over time from its humble beginnings as stretcher bearers and ‘drivers’ to now carrying out high-risk, highly skilled, life-saving interventions. Paramedics in Australia have not traditionally been regulated in the same way as other comparable health practitioners, despite performing similar tasks and playing a unique and essential role in healthcare delivery however they have undertaken a concerted campaign over the past 10 years to change their professional status and have looked to the law to facilitate that transition. This change is now underway. Despite the ambition of the paramedic discipline to be regulated as professionals, there has been relatively little analysis or discussion in the paramedic literature of the effect the discipline believes regulation as a profession will have on shaping the discipline in the future. This study examines how structural and legislative reform of the Australian healthcare workforce has coincided with the Australian paramedic professionalisation project to provide an opportunity for paramedics to gain professional status. It further analyses what the role of law could be in fostering a culture and ethos of professionalism in the discipline. This socio-legal study investigates whether or not paramedics have the characteristics of a profession; how best the law can facilitate their transition to professional status; and why that matters. The analysis utilises a sociological framework informed by the work of sociologist Eliot Freidson in particular to define what a profession is and establish whether paramedicine is a profession according to common criteria. It will map those criteria against the primary piece of Australian legislation that regulates health professionals in Australia, the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009 (Qld). The study uses the same analytical framework to compare the Australian legislation to similar legislation in the United Kingdom (UK) where paramedics have been regulated as professionals for over a decade. The study analyses the implications of any significant differences between the two regulatory schemes for the UK and Australian paramedic professionalisation projects