In pursuit of community engagement: Exploring its intersections with teaching and learning in emergency care education

Abstract

Background: Community engagement has gathered attention, as a salient mechanism to improve patient care and healthcare systems, while strengthening students’ awareness of societal ills.
Aim: This article explores the views of healthcare academics in the Western Cape, with regard to the potential of the role of community engagement, in enhancing teaching and learning, in emergency medical care education.
Setting: This study was undertaken in the Western Cape province of South Africa.
Methods: The study adopted qualitative methodology. Two samples of academics from various health science disciplines were recruited and the third sample from emergency medical care specifically, were recruited using non-probability sampling strategies. Data were collected using interviews and focus group discussions with 29 academics in total. Following a process of thematic analysis, the study found that engagement remained at a disjuncture from teaching and learning in paramedic education.
Results: The data revealed that there was huge potential for paramedic students to acquire valuable knowledge, if they were immersed within community spaces as part of work integrated learning. Service learning, volunteerism and outreach were further identified as potential pathways to forming collaborative partnerships that could ensure that emergency medical care graduates were better prepared to understand health disparities and work towards healthier communities in South Africa.
Conclusion: The study advances the need for emergency medical care to extend preparedness for clinical practice through conscientising students about health disparities and to working with vulnerable communities to find solutions to health problems.
Contribution: The study emphasises the importance of integrating community engagement into emergency medical care education.