Duty Of Care In Paramedicine

Duty of Care in Paramedicine and in health care involves primary commitment to the well-being and care of a patient. Duty of care is understood to be the beginning of professional understanding, it involves reliable professional responsibility and judgment of a patient. This assignment thoroughly discusses the meaning of duty of care in paramedicine and how it is essential to successful patient outcomes. In addition, the assignment will provide an appropriate paramedicine example of duty of care to outline the key term within a realistic scenario.

Duty of care is a legal obligation to act within your competence and to not undertake anything you believe will cause harm to those who rely on your professional capability. Caring for a patient

is not only about the professional’s actions but it is about connection and how considerable a health professional is towards the patient. Caring in health care is not a choice the professional must treat the patient equitably, justly and without discrimination, this is essential to providing all patients with equal and efficient care (Duthie, 2015).
Professionals must always keep their knowledge and skills up to date to ensure the patient is receiving quality care. Within duty of care it is always important to act in the best interest of your patient, consent is always needed unless there is evidence that the individual lacks the capacity to make their own judgment or decision (Boulton, 2015).
When professionals act within their duty of care they must always do what a reasonable person, with their training and background, can be expected to do. For example, if a paramedic is called to a scene, and is informed that a mother has assaulted her young boy but in the moment she has also hurt herself, the paramedic must treat the boy as well as the mother. Although the paramedic may not want to treat the mother because of her actions, following the duty of care the paramedic has no choice and must attend to the mother also.