Towards an understanding of the embedded nature of everyday ethical reasoning in paramedic education and practice

Paramedicine is increasingly complex in affective, behavioural, and cognitive domains of practice. The ability to navigate this complexity is essential for paramedics who are required to simultaneously practice assertively, dynamically, sensitively, and professionally. Although these may seem to be superficially incongruent ways of practising, through insightful and reflexive practice underpinned by appropriate ethical approaches, paramedics can navigate the complexity inherent in paramedic work whether care episodes are routine or extreme. In what follows, we discuss the potential of virtue ethics as a way of navigating complexity in paramedic practice and preparing clinicians for the varied work they manage as paramedics. We do this by first describing some of the issues faced by the modern paramedic, outlining ethical approaches to practice, then working through a vignette showing how a deeper understanding of ethics and utilising a virtue ethics approach may have helped the clinicians navigate a typical ethical dilemma found in practice.