A Ballarat paramdedic is among the first in Australia to start their masters degree toward becoming a paramedic practitioner - a new ambulance role to help reduce the number of patients who need to go to hospital.
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Ambulance Victoria Ballarat paramedic community support coordinator Sean Duggan has signed on to the three-year course after working closely with regional and remote communities.
"Having grown up in a rural town and still being involved with local community groups, I have witnessed first-hand the impacts of chronic diseases and poor health care outcomes," he said.
The new role will allow trained paramedic practitioners to provide an expanded level of care to people in the community, easing pressure on hospital emergency departments.
During the three-year Paramedic Practitioners Masters degree, developed by Monash University and Ambulance Victoria, graduates will undergo advanced clinical training to be able to deliver urgent care to patients in the community, to assess and diagnose patients in the field, provide treatment and treatment plans, and make referrals to other health providers - without taking a patient to hospital if not needed.
"The paramedic practitioner role will offer these rural communities an alternative pathway to health care and allow me to become a community health care advocate," Mr Duggan said.
Reducing the need to transport patients to hospital and transfer them to hospital care, which often sees ambulances "ramped" while waiting for available hospital space and staff, will free up more ambulances to respond to critically ill patients.
Mr Duggan and his 29 fellow paramedic practitioners will graduate from the course in 2026 and be deployed in regional Victoria.
Ambulance Victoria medical director Professor David Anderson said the new position reflected the organisation's changing role in the community.
"Over the past decade, the role of a paramedic has undergone a significant transformation, evolving from focusing on emergency treatments and patient transportation to becoming frontline care providers," he said.
