Dr. Ben Meadley, Intensive Care Flight Paramedic - Push your career into new frontiers

Physio Foundations

This week I spoke to specialist paramedic, educator and researcher Dr Ben Meadley about his career as a specialist mobile intensive care ambulance (MICA) paramedic and the rapidly evolving profession of paramedicine. Ben explained what Johnny Utah from the movie Point Break can teach us about physical performance standards for health professionals and the importance of emotional intelligence, empathy, capability, aligning practice with research and pushing into new frontiers. Thanks Ben for a great conversation.

This is a discussion aimed at health professionals and health professional students. Always seek the guidance of a qualified health professional with any questions you may have regarding your health or a medical condition.

In this episode

0:00 Welcome Ben

1:12 About Ben – background, interests, career so far

4:40 Why is it so important that health professionals look after their own health? It takes time to develop expertise – the importance of people staying healthy and staying in health professions

8:40 What can Johnny Utah from Point Break teach us about physical performance standards for health professionals?

11:30 What is an acceptable baseline of physical fitness and performance? A job task analysis for physiotherapy

18:30 The importance of being able to perform tasks confidently and capably, e.g. being able to demonstrate exercises well

20:00 What are the most important foundational knowledge and skills for a physiotherapist? Emotional intelligence, understand when its time to listen and when its time to take charge

25:10 People want you to help them solve a problem; the balance of listening/adapting and being decisive

27:45 The evolution of the paramedic profession and what we can learn from this in physiotherapy. Working effectively with other professionals

36:55 The importance of being empowered to say ‘I don’t know’. Look, pause, plan

40:20 Final thoughts? The evolution of all health professionals is to develop your emotional intelligence, empathy, capability, aligning with research and pushing into new frontiers

42:00 Thank you for helping me spread positive messages about our profession

Ben’s academic profile: https://www.monash.edu/medicine/spahc/paramedicine/staff/ben-meadley

Ben’s website: https://www.benmeadley.com/

Find Ben on social media: https://twitter.com/ben_meadley

Join the conversation in the YouTube comments or via social media @PerratonPhysio

For a list of episodes, transcripts and associated blogs, visit www.perraton.physio/physiofoundations

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Do you have a topic you would like me to cover on the podcast? Email me: [e-mail], or DM me on Twitter @lukeperraton

Always seek the guidance of a qualified health professional with any questions you may have regarding your health or a medical condition.