Calling all paramedics - have you signed your new PGD suite?

Paramedics are authorised to carry and administer a huge variety of drugs and medicines for our patients.

The paramedic patient group direction (PGD) suite details what drugs you’re able to give, and every paramedic has to sign a copy for the Trust to say that they feel confident in supplying and administering the medicines listed in it.

On 1^st August, our paramedic PGD suite was updated, which means all our paramedics now need to sign a new copy.

You will need to print a copy of the PGD, sign it and take it to your line manager for them to authorise. You need to do this by Friday, 1^st October.

What’s changed?

One important change is around the inclusion criteria for tranexamic acid:

• Patients with a TIME CRITICAL injury where significant internal/external haemorrhage is suspected
• Injured patents from birth onwards, fulfilling local Step1 or Step2 trauma triage protocol (refer to JRCALC Appendix 1 in Trauma Emergencies – Overviews in Adults and Children)
• Must be administered within three hours of injury.

Information around water for injection has also been updated.

Please make sure to sign the PGD as soon as you can, as paramedics who haven’t had a new PGD approved before 1^st October won’t be able to administer tranexamic acid or water for injection from that date.

Senior locality managers have been sent a copy of the PGD to share with their staff, but if you’d prefer you can download a copy here, sign it and take it to your line manager directly for approval.

Published 13th August, 2015