Reno, Nev. – Earlier this week, at the 2014 National Association of EMS Educators (NAEMSE) Annual Symposium, the Prehospital Care Research Forum (PCRF) presented Fisdap Director of Testing Michael Bowen; paramedic educator, speaker, and author David Page; and psychometrician Luke Stanke with the Best Research award for their research project “Warning Signs: Increased Neuroticism is Associated with Poor Professional Behavior during Paramedic Student Contacts.”
The project compared student scores on the Fisdap Entrance Exam and preceptor ratings of a student’s “Professional Behavior,” as outlined in the National Registry of EMTs (NREMT) Psychomotor Competency Portfolio Project (PCPP) and recorded in Fisdap. Results showed a correlation between matriculating paramedic students’ level of neuroticism and their preceptors’ rating of their professional behavior. In other words, students with a high degree of neuroticism were likely to show signs of unprofessional behavior. The neuroticism score proved a strong indicator of how a student may be expected to interact with patients.
Three additional research projects developed at the Fisdap Research Summit were also accepted for presentation at this year’s symposium.
- “Consider Kindness: Agreeableness is Linked to Improved Communication During Paramedic Student Internships” by David I. Page, MS, NREMT-P; Michael Bowen, NREMT-P; Luke Stanke, PhDc.
- “Clinical Compliance of Paramedic Students Acquiring Prehospital 12-lead ECGs,” by Dean C. Meenach, RN, BSN, CEN, CCRN, CPEN, EMT-P; Thomas Dobrzynski, BS, NRP; Joanne Ruck, API, RN, BPS BN; Mark Cromer, MS, MBA, NRP; James D. Dinsch, MS, NREMT-P; Elizabeth C. Landry, BS, NREMTP; Alyssa R. Morris BS; Sara Richter, MS, EMT-B; Michael Bowen, NREMT-P; Jesse Mortenson, BA.
- “Pain is Inevitable, Suffering is Optional: an Analysis of Paramedic Student Treatment of Extremity Traumas,” by Laurie Hill, NRP; Catherine Lewis, BA; Jason Hums, MPH; Avis Thomas, MS; Sandi Wewerka, EMT-B, MPH; Benjamin Getsug; Rachel Walberg, BA; Abigail Zagar, BS; Nick Skenderian, BA, EMT-B; Nathan Ross, BS, NRP, MS; Mike Burbank, EMT-B; Mark Malonzo, MA, NRP.
Thank you to all participating institutions and students whose anonymized data made these research projects possible.
To learn more about how Fisdap works to foster EMS research, visit fisdap.net/research. To receive updates about participating in the creation of new EMS research, sign up to receive information about the 2015 Fisdap Research Summit.
