Welcome to the Community Paramedicine Needs Assessment Tool (CPNAT)
What is the Community Paramedicine Needs Assessment Tool?
The Community Paramedicine Needs Assessment Tool (CPNAT) is a comprehensive tool designed to aid the development of community paramedicine programs. It provides essential guidance for conducting effective needs assessments, targeting communities based on shared characteristics or experiences, such as location, culture, or interests.
When to use the Community Paramedicine Needs Assessment Tool?
- The CPNAT is ideal for developing new, or evaluating existing, community paramedicine programs.
- It can be used when conducting thorough assessments during the initial program design.
- It can be applied to both broad (city-wide) and focused (specific population) analyses.
Who should use the Community Paramedicine Needs Assessment Tool?
- Community paramedicine leaders using a strengths-based, community-centered approach.
- The CPNAT also recognizes communities as experts in their own health and social requirements, empowering them in program co-design for optimal outcomes.
How to use the Community Paramedicine Needs Assessment Tool?
- Start with planning questions, gather qualitative and quantitative data about community attributes, and prioritize community-defined outcomes.
- Incorporate community-led methodologies for data gathering and outcome prioritization.
- Document follow-ups and consider political/contextual factors for program success.
- Available in various customizable formats under a Creative Commons license.
Development of the Community Paramedicine Needs Assessment Tool
The CPNAT was created through a stringent research process, incorporating literature review, document analysis, and expert insights. The CPNAT was designed to be inclusive and tailor-made for community paramedicine leaders. For a detailed development overview and resources, visit the CPNAT OSF project.
The CPNAT has been formally endorsed by the Paramedic Association of Canada (PAC), International Roundtable on Community Paramedicine (IRCP) and Paramedic Chiefs of Canada (PCC).
Authors: Tyne (Lunn) Markides, Brendan Shannon, Cheryl Cameron, Aman Hussain, Liz Caperon, Alan Batt
