Diploma in Pre-Hospital Emergency Care

Diploma in Pre-Hospital Emergency Care by

Open University Malaysia (OUM) in collaboration

with St. John Ambulans Malaysia (SJAM)

Programme Synopsis

The purpose of emergency medical care is to stabilize patients who have a life-threatening or limb-threatening injury or suffering from severe respiratory, cardiac and other diseases. Unlike many of the western countries, there is a lack of specialized staff to deal with advanced pre-hospital emergency care in Malaysia. Medical emergency also arises in communities during sports meet, celebrations, violence, war, terrorism and disaster. In the latter case, many other global disaster relief organizations offer help for a temporary period.

St. John Ambulance of Malaysia, a non profit organization, is providing voluntary service for emergency care for many decades. First aid and home nursing is their main duty. The Malaysian Red Crescent Society (MRCS), a branch of British Red Cross also provides emergency care service. Various public, private and university hospitals in Malaysia also have trauma and emergency units to bring patients to the hospitals after offering them minimum urgent care.

Realizing the above aspects, Open University Malaysia (OUM) in collaboration with St. John Ambulance Malaysia (SJAM) contemplates to develop a 3-year Diploma program in pre-hospital emergency care using its blended pedagogy of face to face learning, on-line participation of learners to interact with tutors and their peers, self learning through a module and relevant materials in Tan Sri Abdullah Sanusi Digital Library of OUM and practical’s at St. John Ambulance Malaysia branches in Malaysia as well as in hospitals. OUM at a later stage intends to develop an on-line programme to reach a greater mass of learners throughout Malaysia and abroad.

Rationale For Introducing The Programme

1. here is an urgent need to develop a sophisticated pre-hospital emergency care system in Malaysia to upgrade knowledge and skills of emergency care technicians.

2. Training of a large number of staff for various organizations offering pre-hospital emergency care could be achieved through collaboration of local first aid organizations and support from some selected hospitals. St. John Ambulance Malaysia has about 600 pre-hospital emergency care staff at various branches in Malaysia.

3. OUM's flexible learning system is affordable from the adult learners’ point of view.

4. Students may be able to opt for a degree programme after their graduation. Therefore at a later stage, OUM needs to develop a degree programme for pre-hospital emergency care.

Objectives

1. To develop a 3-year diploma programme with a blended pedagogy on pre-hospital emergency care course for approval from Malaysian Quality Agency (MQA) and Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE).

2. To obtain registration of the successful graduates from the Ministry of Health (MOH) as a health professional/paramedic for employment in various hospitals and other agencies.

3. To help the Nation to develop a group of professional paramedic that will enhance the image of the pre-hospital emergency care in Malaysia.

4. To create competent specialized staff for pre-hospital emergency care in Malaysia and abroad to serve patients more efficiently and effectively.

5. To develop professional health care staff with IT competency, and capable of undertaking research in emergency medical care.

Course Details

• This is a 3-year diploma course and emphasis throughout the programme is the development of advanced knowledge and skills related to the care of the patients in the pre-hospital care management

• Other important areas of study include the development of students’ overall ability by providing them the IT skills, sufficient knowledge of English, oral communication skills, and issues related to ethics, professionalism and entrepreneurship. Students also need to undertake the MQA prescribed courses such as Moral/Islamic education, Malaysian studies and Bahasa Kebangsaan/Bahasa Malaysia.

Target Groups

Paramedics at Hospitals, Pre-hospital Care Providers, Aid Organizations, Disaster Relief Organizations, Factories and Housewives.

For those who are interest with this program, you can click HERE for more information.