{"id":58,"date":"2017-04-03T16:29:37","date_gmt":"2017-04-03T20:29:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/oppat\/?page_id=58"},"modified":"2018-12-21T15:26:56","modified_gmt":"2018-12-21T20:26:56","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/oppat\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About OPPAT"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Ottawa Paramedic Physical Ability Test (OPPAT<sup>TM<\/sup>) was <a href=\"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/oppat\/description\/\">designed by researchers<\/a> as an evidence-based, job specific simulation to test the physical ability required to meet the demands of paramedic work. Administered by Wilfrid Laurier University, the test is a result of many years of collaboration between kinesiology researchers and Ottawa Paramedic Service.<\/p>\n<h2>FOR PARAMEDICS, BY PARAMEDICS<\/h2>\n<p>The<strong>&nbsp;OPPAT<sup>TM<\/sup>&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;is a&nbsp;new best practice standard for pre-hire &amp; return-to-work physical employment testing. It is a&nbsp;new best practice standard that\u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>has a&nbsp;<strong><u><a href=\"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/oppat\/description\/\" target=\"_blank\">strong evidence-base<\/a>,&nbsp;<\/u><\/strong>where the paramedic community is principled on the use of evidence-based practices;<\/li>\n<li>is<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/British_Columbia_(Public_Service_Employee_Relations_Commission)_v_British_Columbia_Government_Service_Employees%27_Union\"><u>&nbsp;legally defensible<\/u><\/a><\/strong>, wherein the OPPAT<sup>TM&nbsp;<\/sup>was developed based on the best practice template emerging from the seminal 1999 Meiorin Supreme Court Case;<\/li>\n<li>uses<u>&nbsp;<strong>job-specific simulation<\/strong><\/u><strong>,&nbsp;<\/strong>meaning it looks and feels like the normal everyday work of a paramedic demonstrating strong face validity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>&nbsp;Why is a new best practice standard necessary?<\/h2>\n<p>In 2013, through an arbitration on physical employment testing in the paramedic sector, Union (CUPE local 503)&nbsp; and Management reached a Minutes of Settlement agreement resolving that static strength testing could not be included within paramedic-based physical employment tests. The <a href=\"http:\/\/ottawasun.com\/2013\/07\/28\/union-city-settle-test-fight\/wcm\/9b97dcbf-3e6a-4298-93e4-82252598eb9b\">Ottawa Sun<\/a>&nbsp;reported :&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Many of the medics forced to submit to the {previous protocol} found it difficult to complete and highly unrealistic\u2026several veteran paramedics either failed or were injured while completing the test.\u201d&nbsp;<br \/>\n<strong><sub> Source:<\/sub><\/strong> <sub> James Watson, Vice President CUPE 503&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/ottawasun.com\/2013\/07\/28\/union-city-settle-test-fight\/wcm\/9b97dcbf-3e6a-4298-93e4-82252598eb9b\">Ottawa Sun<\/a>, July 28, 2013. <\/sub><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Ottawa Paramedic Physical Ability Test (OPPAT<sup>TM<\/sup>) was designed by researchers as an evidence-based, job specific simulation to test the physical ability required to meet the demands of paramedic work.<\/p>\n<p>Find out more about the <a href=\"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/oppat\/description\/\">Research and Development<\/a> behind the <em>OPPAT<sup>TM.<\/sup><\/em><\/p>\n<h2>OPPAT<sup>TM<\/sup>&nbsp;roll out<\/h2>\n<p>Beginning in January 2018, select Paramedic and Emergency Medical Services in Ontario will include the&nbsp;<em>Ottawa Paramedic Physical Abilities Test (OPPAT<sup>TM<\/sup><\/em>) as part of their physical demands testing of prospective recruits, paramedics returning to work, and special operations teams. Developed by Drs. <a href=\"https:\/\/uwaterloo.ca\/kinesiology\/people-profiles\/steve-fischer\">Fischer<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wlu.ca\/academics\/faculties\/faculty-of-science\/faculty-profiles\/renee-s-macphee\/index.html\">MacPhee <\/a>&nbsp;and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lakeheadu.ca\/users\/S\/ksinden\/node\/39134\">&nbsp;Sinden<\/a>, the OPPAT<sup>TM&nbsp;<\/sup>is a bona fide occupational test that emphasizes the tasks associated with being a front line paramedic, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>lifting\/lowering of a stretcher (with and without a weighted mannequin);<\/li>\n<li>performing <span class=\"_Yht\">cardiopulmonary resuscitation (<\/span>CPR);<\/li>\n<li>walking a short distance while carrying a backboard with a weighted mannequin in place; and,<\/li>\n<li>loading\/unloading of the stretcher from an ambulance (with and without a weighted mannequin).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>To participate<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/oppat\/registration\/\">Register for OPPAT<sup>TM&nbsp;<\/sup>testing<\/a>&nbsp;at one of our <a href=\"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/oppat\/locations\/\">testing locations<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Ottawa Paramedic Physical Ability Test (OPPATTM) was designed by researchers as an evidence-based, job specific simulation to test the physical ability required to meet the demands of paramedic work. Administered by Wilfrid Laurier University, the test is a result of many years of collaboration between kinesiology researchers and Ottawa Paramedic Service. FOR PARAMEDICS, BY &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/oppat\/about\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;About OPPAT&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-58","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/oppat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/58","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/oppat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/oppat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/oppat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/oppat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/oppat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/58\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1063,"href":"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/oppat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/58\/revisions\/1063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/oppat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}