Death education in paramedic programs: a nationwide assessment

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Emergency Medical Services
• Thanatology

Background:

• Death education is crucial for healthcare professionals, including paramedics.
• Understanding the current landscape of death education in paramedic programs is essential for curriculum development and improvement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the current status of death education in U.S. paramedic training programs.
• To identify instructional methods, educational supplements, assessment techniques, and topic integration.
• To examine trends in death education offerings over the past decade.

Main Methods:

• An exploratory study utilizing a self-administered survey.
• Survey distributed to all 537 U.S. paramedic training programs.
• Analysis of usable surveys with a 51% response rate.

Main Results:

• 95% of programs offer death education, an increase from 10 years ago.
• Legal-ethical topics are the most frequently covered death-related subjects.
• Didactic lectures and closed-ended tests are the predominant instructional and assessment methods.

Conclusions:

• Death education is a well-established component of paramedic training.
• Curricula predominantly focus on legal-ethical aspects, utilizing traditional teaching methods.
• Findings provide a baseline for future research and curriculum enhancement in paramedic death education.