Paramedic PapersHome Operations & systems What makes paramedic teleconsultation work
Operations & systems
What makes paramedic teleconsultation work
Closing the gap: staff perspectives on the effectiveness of teleconsultation in pre-hospital emergency care ‐ a qualitative study
British Paramedic Journal · 2026-09-01 · Added 29 August 2026
Qualitative study of 12 UK critical care and clinical advisory paramedics on teleconsultation — its effectiveness hinges on a 'teleconsultation competence gap' in training, organisational culture and whether governance feels punitive rather than supportive.
- Study type
- Qualitative
- Design
- Qualitative — critical realist thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews
- Participants
- 12 paramedics in critical care and clinical advisory roles
- Main finding
- Three mechanisms shaped effectiveness: a teleconsultation competence gap in education, environmental determinism (culture, leadership, workload), and an autonomy-governance balance.
- Caveat
- Small purposive sample from a single large NHS trust of experienced critical care paramedics — perspectives of frontline paramedics may differ.
- Bottom line
- Context only
Why it matters in Australia (Medium relevance). Australian services run clinician consultation and electronic support desks with the same governance and training tensions, though the interviewed roles were UK critical-care specific.
Learning goal
Understand how competence, culture and governance shape effective teleconsultation in my prehospital practice.
More
- Topic: Operations & systems
- Daily scan: 29 August 2026
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