Teaching and evaluating the affective domain in paramedic education

The delivery of education in health professions, including paramedicine, follow standard curricula with learning and skills objectives. In Canada, paramedic education program learning objectives arc generally reflective of the National Occupational Competency Profiles (NOCPs), whilst in the USA the National Standard Curricula arc utilized. The Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom also utilize national educational standards to guide program development. These guidelines utilize an adaptation of Bloom's taxonomy (Krathwohl et al., 1964) to allow educators to categorize the learning objectives they set for their students. These are commonly divided into three domains: cognitive (theoretical knowledge), affective (feelings and attitude), and psychomotor (practical skills).