Welcome to The Paramedic Academic
The Paramedic Academic is a open, independent blog focused on evidence-informed commentary on paramedicine, regional health, emergency service systems and equity.
Behind The Paramedic Academic is Derek Collings-Hughes, a paramedic, academic and researcher in Western Australia.
My aim is to translate research, data and policy into discussion that is useful, readable and grounded in practice. It sits alongside academic publishing, rather than replacing it: slightly less journal article, slightly more human, but still committed to evidence, context and professional standards.
If this if your first time visiting, I recommend starting with the opening post, which explains why this site exists and what I hope it can contribute: Why The Paramedic Academic?
Latest Posts
Western Australia Spends the Least Per Capita on Ambulance Services – What If That Changed?
Western Australia consistently spends the least per person on ambulance services nationally.
But what would happen if we simply matched the Australian average? I examine the available data, the challenges of equitable funding across regional WA, and what a modest increased investment in annual ambulance expenditure might achieve.
My Emergency Is Not Your Entertainment: Professional Ethics and Reality TV
Ambulance reality TV may be familiar, but that does not make it ethically unproblematic. This post examines whether bringing film crews into frontline paramedic care can be reconciled with our responsibilities around trust, privacy, confidentiality and informed consent, and whether the claimed benefits of these programmes justify that intrusion.
How I Use AI – And What Others Might Learn from It
I use AI regularly, but not to replace the thinking, reading and writing that underpin my work. This post explains where AI fits into my workflow, where I deliberately keep it out, and what I have learned about using these tools without outsourcing the difficult work of thinking for myself.
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