Development
ECAs at present have no clear career pathway of progression to technician or paramedic status and this has been widely discussed within many ambulance trusts. In the fourth quarter of 2008, West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust announced progression for 80 ECAs to become emergency medical technicians in 2009. A large number of ECAs have since undertaken IHCD ambulance technician courses and many are now qualified technicians. West Midlands Ambulance Service has continued to offer technician courses throughout 2010, 2011 and 2012 to existing staff eligible to take them.
Some other ambulance Trusts that use the ECA role have begun to work on providing development for ECAs to become paramedics, using part-time higher education routes, such as the Open University. This is in line with the NHS "Skills Escalator" approach to staff development. It provides a development route for ECAs that are able to study (to a minimum of Higher Education Diploma), whilst remaining in employment, rather than becoming a full-time university student.
Read more about this topic: Emergency Care Assistant
Famous quotes containing the word development:
“As a final instance of the force of limitations in the development of concentration, I must mention that beautiful creature, Helen Keller, whom I have known for these many years. I am filled with wonder of her knowledge, acquired because shut out from all distraction. If I could have been deaf, dumb, and blind I also might have arrived at something.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“Ultimately, it is the receiving of the child and hearing what he or she has to say that develops the child’s mind and personhood.... Parents who enter into a dialogue with their children, who draw out and respect their opinions, are more likely to have children whose intellectual and ethical development proceeds rapidly and surely.”
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“The work of adult life is not easy. As in childhood, each step presents not only new tasks of development but requires a letting go of the techniques that worked before. With each passage some magic must be given up, some cherished illusion of safety and comfortably familiar sense of self must be cast off, to allow for the greater expansion of our distinctiveness.”
—Gail Sheehy (20th century)