Undergraduate paramedic students’ perceptions of a community volunteer placement

While offering students theoretical knowledge in the classroom,paramedic degrees rely heavily on ambulance clinical placements to link theory to practice (1,2). Workplace learning plays a key role in paramedic student education (1,3) with universities increasingly competing for clinical placements in Australia (4-6). As part of a strategy to look beyond traditional ambulance placements for quality experiential learning opportunities, we introduced a structured volunteer program to first year paramedic students at Charles Sturt University. In this program we sought to expose students to organisations where they could gain real world experience while also making a positive contribution to local communities. After students completed the program, we solicited their feedback to better understand their perceptions of volunteering during their community placement.