College to launch paramedic program

By Chen Xiaoru Source:Global Times Published: 2013-3-21 23:23:01

A local college will open Shanghai's first paramedic degree program this fall to ease the city's shortage of emergency medical personnel in ambulances, local media reported Thursday.

Many paramedics, who are called ambulance doctors in Shanghai, have walked away from their jobs due to the long hours and stressful working conditions, said a press officer surnamed Zhang with the Shanghai Medical Emergency Center. Many also consider the job a waste of their education.

Because there has never been a paramedic degree program in Shanghai, ambulances have usually been staffed with trained doctors who have gone through the same seven-year education as other physicians, according to Li Minghua, a trainer at the Shanghai Medical Emergency Center.

The situation has left many feeling overqualified. The Shanghai Medical Emergency Center hired 31 ambulance doctors last year, but 55 quit, according to a report in the Youth Daily.

They also make less money. An ambulance doctor with 10 years of experience makes about 4,000 yuan ($643) per month on average, the same as an entry-level doctor at a hospital, Zhang said.

To solve the problem, the Shanghai Institute of Health Sciences will admit 60 students into the new three-year paramedic program in September. "We have already received requests from district-level emergency centers, who would like to hire our students after they graduate," a staff member in the college president's office told the Global Times. "The students will receive a free education and will be dispatched to work for medical emergency units all over the city after they graduate."

To ensure that the students will be qualified when they graduate, the college will purchase an ambulance so students can get more practical training, the Youth Daily reported.

The staff member, who asked not to be named, said health authorities are hoping the college program will attract students who will stay in the field.

 



Posted in: Society, Metro Shanghai

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