Studies of the effectiveness of paramedical personnel usage in medical care delivery

Description

The United States as a whole is currently undergoing a crisis in medical care, primarily in terms of costs and capacity. One approach to solving these problems is to use paramedical personnel as part of an integrated delivery system, but in doing so one is likely to meet with behavioral and organizational obstacles. In this research, the degree to which different categories of medical and paramedical professionals are used in various organizations is measured and organizational factors leading to successful utilization identified. The study concentrates on medical systems within the United States armed forces, as these are systems relying extensively on paraprofessionals, where problems in utilization have been noted. Specifically the study determines those tasks currently performed by various paraprofessionals and compares this task list with perceived abilities, as determined by the paraprofessionals themselves, by their medical co-workers, and those persons who train the paraprofessionals.

Subjects