Wisconsin Paramedic Program Attrition: Exploring the Pathway From Program Enrollment to Workforce Entry

Abstract

A paramedic staffing crisis was identified in the background of this study on paramedic program attrition. For those who are concerned with public health and national security, specifically emergency medical services (EMS) stakeholders, investing in the recruitment and retention of paramedics in the workforce and workforce pipeline should be a strategic priority. This study on Wisconsin paramedic program attrition is important because the research will strengthen the workforce pipeline, thus securing a more stable workforce. This study's purpose was to evaluate and describe paramedic program attrition in the state of Wisconsin. More specifically, the author designed the research questions to measure the proportion of enrolled Wisconsin paramedic program students who graduated, passed paramedic certification, achieved positive placement, and entered the paramedic workforce. Moreover, the design of this study provided a retrospective and longitudinal evaluation, analyzing existing de-identified data for every student enrolled in a Wisconsin paramedic program in 2018 and 2019. The results of this study concluded that the highest rate of paramedic program attrition occurred before graduation. Factors that impacted attrition included academic, financial, medical, and personal reasons. The results of this study are valuable to researchers who aim to explore and connect predictive relationships between paramedic program attrition and paramedic occupational turnover. Furthermore, the results are valuable to EMS stakeholders who want to improve on recruiting and retaining paramedics in the workforce and workforce pipeline.