What Motivates Students to Pursue a Career in Paramedicine?

This study aimed to determine the motivations behind students’ decisions to enrol in a degree in emergency health (paramedic) or double degree emergency health (paramedic) and nursing. Methods Students were surveyed to determine the importance of different motivations influencing their decision to enrol in their current university course. Results There were 168 surveys returned from 182 students (93% response rate). The most important motivations for students were ‘wanting to help people’, ‘saving lives’ and ‘exciting career’ . Older respondents rated ‘giving back to the community’ , ‘wearing a uniform’ , ‘employment prospects’ , ‘pay rate’ and ‘job security’ slightly higher. Males considered ‘ pay rate’ , ‘ working environment’ and ‘ job security ’ slightly more important than females. Conclusions Findings suggest that like other health professional students, those studying paramedicine do so for intrinsic motives including ‘wanting to help people’, ‘saving lives’ and an ‘exciting career’.