The impact of dementia education on student paramedics preparedness to care, knowledge, confidence, and attitudes towards dementia: an analytic survey

Abstract

Background: Paramedics play a vital role in the emergency health care of people living with dementia. People with dementia often have complex needs, posing challenges for paramedics. Paramedics often lack the confidence and skills to assess people with dementia appropriately and receive little, if any, dementia education. Aims: To evaluate the impact of dementia education on student paramedics preparedness to care, knowledge, confidence, and attitudes towards dementia. Methods: A 6-hour education programme on dementia was developed, implemented, and evaluated. A pre-test-post-test design using self-completion validated questionnaires was used to evaluate first year undergraduate student paramedics knowledge, confidence, and attitudes, towards dementia, as well as their preparedness to care for people with dementia. Results: Forty-three paramedic students attended the education programme with forty-one fully completed questionnaires being collected pre-training and thirty-two post-training. Students reported feeling significantly more preparedness to care for people with dementia after the education session (p