The Education Systems and Competencies of paramedics in the Czech Republic and in the Federal Republic of Germany

This bachelor thesis is devoted to the paramedic education systems in the Czech Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany, and to comparing the competences these professions have. The theoretical chapter is divided into two sections. The first part focuses on the paramedic education system in the Czech Republic. A brief description of the specialisation is followed by the possibilities of obtaining the qualifications of a paramedic. To illustrate these possibilities, the first stage of university education and its accredited subject A Paramedic Education Programme offered by the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice serves as a model example.The competences of paramedics in the Czech Republic are based on the valid regulation of the Ministry of Health no. 55/2011 of the Collection of Laws on the activities of non-doctor health-care workers and other specialised personnel. This outline includes also a list of the possibilities of deployment of paramedics in the Czech Republic and their brief descriptions. This part is brought to a close with an account of the possibilities of further education and specialisation. The second part of the theoretical chapter concentrates on the education system for the ambulance service personnel in the Federal Republic of Germany. Individual subchapters describe the levels of non-doctor health-care workers and their activities in the ambulance service. In the German ambulance service, the most corresponding counterpart of the Czech paramedic is the paramedic assistant (to be replaced by emergency attendant due to the German legal regulation that came into force on January 1, 2014). In this section, the main attention is devoted to the education of paramedic assistants. The practical part of the bachelor thesis employs the method of qualitative research through structured interviews with open-ended questions. The sample respondents included men and women working with the ambulance service in České Budějovice and having the qualifications of a paramedic, and for the German part paramedic assistants from the ambulance crew in Passau. To answer the first research question Do the Czech paramedics have wider competences than the German ones? it was necessary to compare the legal regulations in both countries and the appropriate expert literature. The data thus obtained have been checked through the direct questioning of paramedics in both countries. The results show that in comparison with the German paramedic assistant, the Czech paramedic has a wider scope of activities in health-care, even outside the ambulance service. Czech paramedics can work at anaesthesiology & resuscitation departments, at accident & emergency departments or as emergency call operators. Unlike in Germany, all these possibilities are specified also in the law. The comparative analysis therefore shows that the Czech paramedic has overall wider competences than the German paramedic assistant, even though in the sphere of pre-hospital emergency care their competences are very similar, if not fully identical. The second research question was whether it would be beneficial for the emergency assistants in Germany to study their specialisation at university. The analysis of the structured interviews with emergency assistants resulted in the conclusion that they would not be in favour of such an arrangement. In their opinion a university education programme would mean an unecessary complication due to the higher financial costs of German university studies. Not all people interested in this specialisation could afford to study it. The respondents also pointed out that it would be impossible for the current health-care system to pay these university-educated specialists. They voiced some criticism of the present-day education system, nevertheless they hope that the long-overdue expected legislative changes will mean improvements of all the criticised issues