Queensland fire and emergency services and ‘medical’ first responder capability: an examination of challenges and opportunities

Queensland fire and emergency services and ‘medical’ first responder capability: an examination of challenges and opportunities

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether and to what degree the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) organisation can provide a medical first responder role in Queensland and if so, what challenges and opportunities might it face in providing such role. Such a purpose aligns well with one of QFES’s key goals related to ‘service alignment’, which in the organisation’s strategic plan is stated as: ‘Design and deliver services according to local risk and community need’, which directly supports one of the Strategy 2030 Guiding Principles that ‘our people and our partners work together in a seamless way.’

The study introduces the structure, history and operational aspects of QFES and highlights the need to develop methods to minimise the effects of shocks and stresses of future events to the organisation. In so doing, the study explores the need for QFES as a medical first responder, identifies the potential value of the medical first responder role, including counter arguments to that potential value, and considers, if the concept is supported by evidence, ask the rhetorical question: can the QFES actually do it?

The three-phase methodological process adopted by this research was: i) choosing and understanding a lens or paradigm through which to view and then define the work-related problem of the potential medical first responder role, while also linking the research topic to my learning objectives; ii) designing and developing a research question to answer the problem statement while also adopting a suitable paradigm; and iii) choosing a reliable and valid method of investigation before initiating the project, collecting evidence, and conducting the data analysis. Systematic evaluation of data and the comparison of it to the published literature resulted in a set of recommendations to QFES based on the challenges and opportunities posed by the possible adoption of this expanded role for QFES personnel.

The findings are not straight forward and the challenges and opportunities need to be weighed with the political climate in the Covid environment. The recommendations however provide the QFES with options for ‘future proofing’ the QFES.