Program Overview

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Paramedic Science and Out of Hospital Care BSc (Hons)

Overview

This course will provide you with the knowledge and skills you require to be a registered paramedic. You will be equipped to meet the challenges of modern paramedic practice, enabling you to deal with unpredictable situations competently and confidently. You will learn potentially lifesaving procedures that will allow you to treat and stabilise patients at the scene of an accident or emergency.

Key areas of study include anatomy and physiology, pharmacology, law and ethics, and management and leadership.

Why us?

• Take advantage of the facilities in the new Living Lab, which includes a mock ward, patient diagnostic suite, OSCE suite, dispensing pharmacy, and patient home setting.
• Our Patient Carer and Public Involvement (PCPI) members actively support our course. You will regularly meet and work with patients and carers who will contribute to your learning and development through assessment and feedback.
• The course offers opportunities to collaborate in an interprofessional learning capacity with other healthcare courses, including nursing, pharmacy, biomedical science, medicine, physiotherapy, and occupational therapy. Alongside this, we run joint learning events with the local fire and rescue teams as well as regional police teams.
• This course is approved by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

Course structure

You will be taught by a highly-skilled and motivated team with both clinical and teaching expertise. Evidence-based practice is embedded within the course, which ensures you are taught the most current and up-to-date skills and knowledge. You will learn through a variety of methods, including presentations, seminars, lectures, group work, and problem-based learning.

You'll also undertake a wide range of practice placements throughout the North East to enhance your learning, which may lead to further employment opportunities.

A strong professional identity and confidence to work with various professional groups is an essential part of the course.

Modules

Year 1:

• Applied Human Sciences in Paramedic Science (20 credits)
  • Gain knowledge in relation to normal human growth and development throughout the lifespan, including cognitive, emotional, and social maturation.
  • Learn about the biopsychosocial determinants of health and wellbeing and the impact of illness on a person, family, and society.
  • Develop an appreciation of the factors that influence individual variations in health and an understanding of the impact that changes in health and wellbeing can have on functional ability.
• Legal, Ethical and Professional Issues in Paramedic Science (20 credits)
  • Explore professional standards for paramedic science with a focus on the legal, ethical, and patient safety frameworks required for effective patient care.
  • Understand the components of clinical governance, including the challenges of autonomous practice in relation to legal and ethical frameworks governing accountability, maintenance of professional standards, and duty of care for service users and those involved in their care.
• Emergency Care Skills in Paramedic Science (20 credits)
  • Develop the clinical skills and abilities required for clinical practice in an emergency situation, together with the use of supporting technologies and strategies relevant to paramedic science.
  • Gain clinical reasoning and decision-making skills to perform a safe and rapid assessment of need and prioritise a clinical workload in a challenging and unpredictable emergency situation.
  • Learn to evaluate the evidence base to identify and use best practice to guide clinical care.
  • Develop a clear understanding of the role of the paramedic, including the requirement to work collaboratively with the wider healthcare team.
• Communication, Empathy and Understanding in Health (20 credits)
  • Develop the verbal and non-verbal communication skills required within paramedic practice to ensure the quality of interactions with service users, carers, and colleagues.
  • Learn how to change communication styles to reflect the needs of the client, age, capacity, illness, learning ability, and language.
  • Explore the concepts of compassion and communication within the context of multi-disciplinary healthcare and individual interaction with individuals, families, and their carers.
• Foundations of Social and Behavioural Science (20 credits)
  • Explore aspects of health and wellbeing that can affect patients and learn how the modification of lifestyle factors such as smoking cessation, alcohol reduction, maintenance of adequate nutrition, and exercise may enhance health outcomes.
  • Explore concepts of sociology, psychology, and social policy within the contexts of paramedic science and how these impact on individuals, families, and their carers.
• Introduction to Research Methods for Paramedics (20 credits)
  • Develop the knowledge and skills to understand research in health and paramedic sciences.
  • Gain awareness of the fundamental issues around the research continuum and consider aspects of research design, analysis, and dissemination.
  • Explore research-related issues such as sampling, validity, reliability, and ethics and learn how to find, read, review, and reference health research.
• Clinical placement (approx 525 hours)

Year 2:

• Applied Pathophysiology in Paramedic Science (20 credits)
  • Explore the anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology of the major body systems, together with the role of immunology, biochemistry, and microbiology in the support of homeostasis and the development of illness.
  • Gain knowledge in normal human growth and development from conception throughout the lifespan, including cognitive, emotional, and social maturation.
  • Discuss the biopsychosocial determinants of health and wellbeing and the impact of illness.
  • Better understand the factors that influence health and how lifestyle changes may enhance individual health and wellbeing.
• Legal, Ethical and Professional Issues in Paramedic Science (20 credits)
  • Develop skills in policy development and the inclusion of research evidence and public and patient involvement in the development of clinical services and the advancing role of the paramedic.
  • Explore legal, ethical, and moral dilemmas from clinical practice and discuss, develop, and articulate strategies for resolution and development of physical and psychological resilience.
  • Get an introduction to clinical audit and the evaluation of clinical practice.
• Advancing Emergency Care Skills in Paramedic Science (20 credits)
  • Enhance your clinical examination and history-taking skills to independently formulate a provisional working diagnosis to guide immediate care management, including the ability to make, receive, and review referrals within a range of settings and situations.
  • Demonstrate your ability to work with patients as partners in emergency care decision-making and demonstrate the interpersonal attributes required to facilitate patient choice where practicable.
  • Gain experience in the interpretation of diagnostic tests to guide emergency care interventions and be able to articulate the requirement for diagnostics and the potential results clearly, and in collaboration with patients.
  • Use a range of problem-solving skills, differentiating between physiological and psychological issues to gain a full understanding of the impact of paramedic intervention.
• Specialist Emergency Care Skills in Paramedic Science (40 credits)
  • Integrate clinical and theoretical knowledge in specialist emergency care settings.
  • Develop clinical reasoning, decision-making, and priority setting in the specialist clinical environment, together with a strong focus on patient assessment and development of emergency care plans.
  • Consolidate specialist emergency care skills, how these differ in relation to varying complex situations, and review latest principles relating to paramedic science.
  • Undertake supernumerary practice as part of this module.
• Evidence-Based Practice and Research Methods (20 credits)
  • Gain insight into evidence-based practice and understand the nature of evidence available to inform practice.
  • Learn how to critically appraise evidence and how to use your professional judgement to best integrate evidence into healthcare practice.
  • Debate the ethical issues that underpin best practice, including consent and risk management.
• Clinical placement (approx 563 hours)

Year 3:

• Minor Injuries and Illness in Advance Paramedic Practice (40 credits)
  • In this module, you'll make evidence-based decisions on the most appropriate and effective treatment pathways for patients presenting within the context of minor injuries.
  • Through a series of practical teaching and learning sessions in the context of primary care, you will be enabled to engage in fundamental processes of clinical decision-making, critically reflexive practice.
  • You'll also consider account advancing healthcare practice, decision-making, and professional issues.
• Contexts of Emergency Care (20 credits)
  • Enhance your understanding of contexts of emergency care provision and factors that influence and drive it.
  • Broaden your horizons of health by taking a global perspective of paramedic science.
  • Explore many of the 'big questions' in health, in relation to poverty, politics, human rights, and development.
  • Debate some of the complex issues facing paramedics and healthcare today.
  • Enhance your understanding of the biological, social, economic, and political drivers underlying major global health issues, especially in the areas of infectious disease, nutrition, maternal/geriatric/child health, and environmental health.
  • Identify and discuss population groups who are at increased risk of poor health and early mortality, as well as exploring those policies, programmes, and interventions that might best be used to ameliorate their adverse health circumstances.
• Leadership and Management in Healthcare Practice (20 credits)
  • Recognise the distinction between leadership and management within the context of healthcare provision and the impact and significance both have to a functioning and dynamic workforce.
  • Discuss the impact of political, economic, socio-cultural influences on contemporary management and leadership.
  • Consider the impact of concepts and skills such as power, autonomy, empowerment, and clinical decision-making, mentoring, and coaching in practice.
• Paramedic Applied Practice Project (40 credits)
  • Undertake an individual research project involving a structured systematic literature review, which will include a detailed critical analysis of the evidence in relation to a well-defined research question.
  • Make recommendations for paramedic science and paramedic practice from your research.
• Clinical placement (approx 525 hours)

Facilities

This course will be based across our City Campus.

The University campus utilises multi-media classrooms with state-of-the-art resources for learning.

You will be expected to undertake a variety of clinical placements and work outside normal working hours, including weekends. Placements can be anywhere within the North East region, including Berwick and North Yorkshire. You will be expected to travel daily or stay in local accommodation for the duration of your placement.

Entry requirements

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Our admissions policy uses a range of flexible options to support you to study with us. This may include a reduced offer of up to 16 UCAS tariff points, (or equivalent). Find out if you are eligible.

Your completed application form will be reviewed by our Admissions Team to ensure that you have the required entry qualifications. If you meet these requirements, then your application will be individually assessed by the Admissions Tutor, and if successful, you will be shortlisted for interview.

Care experience

You must have some experience of delivering care in a professional or voluntary capacity. This can also include caring for family members, volunteering with youth groups, being part of the army
avy/air cadets, or St John's Ambulance. Evidence of the experience gained, understanding of the profession, and a genuine, reasoned commitment to studying a professional course must be explicit in your personal statement to be selected for interview.

Personal statement

Your personal statement provides a unique opportunity to express your personal qualities and attributes related to a rewarding career as a paramedic. The statement should include a clear articulation of:

• Rationale for your choice of career
• How your personality lends itself to a career as a paramedic
• Evidence of investigation into the career of a paramedic that demonstrates insight of the role
• What attracts you to the profession
• Personal qualities and transferable skills that may contribute to success in the course and profession
• What sports/activities do you enjoy and what skills have you developed

Interview

All applicants must attend an interview as part of the selection process, which includes a group activity and an individual interview. Your values, problem-solving, and communication skills will be assessed.

Personal qualities

We select students based on their knowledge, motivation, experience, values, and behaviours, not just academic ability.

You need to demonstrate an ability to:

• Study academic subjects at the level of the course
• Debate topics and issues
• Draw on conclusions from written material
• Study independently and as part of a group
• Use computers and technology associated with teaching, learning, and assessment
• Interact with patients and colleagues in a caring and compassionate manner
• Demonstrate an understanding of, and commitment to, the course

Fitness to practise

Medical assessments of your mental and physical health and disclosure of criminal convictions apply to all paramedic courses and are based on current HCPC requirements. Paramedics are registered healthcare professionals, and the ability to practise safely, effectively, and professionally is essential, so all applicants are required to follow our fitness to practise procedures. This means you are required to complete the following:

• A health declaration form. Here you must demonstrate that you are of good health, good character, and can satisfactorily pass occupational health screening. In addition, you will be required to attend an Occupational Health Assessment with an NHS Trust. The University will, taking into account current HCPC regulations, make any reasonable adjustments if required. Please refer to the HEOPS paramedic student fitness standards.
• A self-declaration form about your conduct.
• Obtain an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. The cost of the DBS check is covered by the University.

Instructions on how you complete these checks will be sent to you once you hold a conditional firm offer with us. These forms are then reviewed alongside your application, and you must meet both the academic and fitness to practise requirements before you will be given an unconditional offer. If you are successful, you will also need to complete an annual declaration form to confirm you are fit and there are no changes to your DBS.

Health declarations

You must demonstrate that you are of good health, good character, and can satisfactorily pass occupational health screening. The University will, taking into account current HCPC regulations, do all it can to accommodate the needs of candidates who declare a specific learning difficulty, long-term health condition, or disability. Please refer to the HEOPS paramedic student standards.

Driving

A driving licence is not a mandatory requirement, however, you will be expected to travel to placements and shift patterns may not always fit with the availability of public transport. Where possible we do try to arrange placements near to term-time addresses but this isn't always possible. We strongly encourage you to try to gain a full driving licence by the end of the course to enhance your job opportunities and employability. A C1 driving classification is not an entry requirement for the course.

If English is not your first language, you need an overall IELTS score of 7, with at least 6.5 in each band.

Fees and finance

The annual, full-time fee for this course is:

• £9,535 if you are from the UK/Europe

*Undergraduate fees are set according to rules from Government in line with forecast inflation. The fee for your first year of study for 2025/26 will be £9,535. You will pay tuition fees for every year of study. Fees may increase every year based on the Retail Price Index.

Please note, we are unable to accept international applicants.

A non-repayable grant of £5,000 and extra payments worth up to £3,000 is available to eligible home students for each year of study. Read more about the Training Grant on The NHS Business Services Authority website.

If you currently serve (or have recently served) within the Armed Forces, then the Ministry of Defence's ELCAS scheme may be able to help cover your funding for this course.

Take a look at the scholarships and bursaries that may be available to you.

This information was correct at the time of publication.

Career ready

On successful completion of this course, you will be eligible to apply for registration with the HCPC as a paramedic. Career options are also available outside the NHS in out-of-hospital environments such as off-shore, remote medicine, armed forces, or primary care.

Salaries for Paramedics are in line with the NHS Agenda for Change pay scales. According to Prospects, the starting salary for paramedics is a band 5, which ranges from £25,655 to £31,534. After two years, you'll have the opportunity to increase to Band 6 (£32,306 and £39,027) following a newly qualified paramedic pathway. Experienced paramedics such as team leaders or senior paramedics who have had additional skills training can earn a salary of bands 6 to 7 (between £32,306 and £45,839). Continued training and gained experience can increase your salary opportunities.

Career options

To assist in preparing you for employment as a paramedic, this course:

• Approved by the HCPC's Education and Training Committee (ETC)
• Offers a variety of clinical placements to ensure you are exposed to the wider role of the paramedic within the healthcare team, in a wide range of exciting settings
• Integrates the latest simulation and blended learning technologies in the development of tomorrow's paramedic
• Incorporates a fully-functioning patient pathway experience

Clinical placements

You will undertake a range of practice placements to gain real-life experience and apply your learning to real-life situations, which may lead to further employment opportunities.

Your placement may be in an ambulance department, care/residential home, patient transport service, accident and emergency, or primary care setting.

Placements are subject to availability and can be anywhere in the North East, from Berwick to North Yorkshire. You will be expected to travel daily or stay in local accommodation for the duration of your placement. You will be responsible for any associated costs, including travel and accommodation for the duration of your placements.

As you may be expected to travel long distances, start your shift in the early hours, or finish your shift late at night, you could be entitled to Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses (TDAE), which allows you to make a retrospective claim for excess travel costs and/or expenses for temporary accommodation near the location of your placement. Find out more about the NHS Learning Support Fund. Please note, students who already hold a degree will not qualify for this fund.