Leadership and followership: DipIMC practice questions
PHEM curriculum unit B.6 · Cross-cutting theme B: Team Resource Management
The DipIMC is blueprinted against phase 1 of the UK Pre-hospital Emergency Medicine (PHEM) curriculum. This page covers unit B.6, Demonstrate leadership and followership.
Below are 2 free practice questions from the DipIMC.Ninja bank, in the Part A single best answer format. Every answer names the textbook page, guideline or statute it was written from, so you can check it rather than take it on trust. The bank holds 6 questions on this unit.
Question 1 · Law, Ethics & Human Factors · Easy
A registered paramedic is crewed with an emergency care assistant who qualified three months ago. At an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest the paramedic asks the assistant to insert a supraglottic airway and manage ventilation while the paramedic obtains vascular access and gives drugs. Under the HCPC Standards of conduct, performance and ethics (2024), which statement about this delegation is correct?
AThe paramedic may delegate only to someone with the knowledge, skills and experience to do it safely, and must then supervise and support
BThe paramedic may delegate the task, after which accountability for it passes wholly to the assistant and no further supervision is required
CThe paramedic may delegate clinical tasks only to another HCPC registrant, and so must manage the airway personally in this case
DThe paramedic may delegate any task listed in the assistant's job description without assessing their competence for it on the day
EThe paramedic must personally perform every clinical intervention at a cardiac arrest, and may delegate only non-clinical tasks
Show answer
Answer: A
The paramedic may delegate only to someone with the knowledge, skills and experience to do it safely, and must then supervise and support
Standard 4 of the HCPC Standards of conduct, performance and ethics, in force from 1 September 2024, deals with delegation and has two limbs. Standard 4.1: you must only delegate work to someone who has the knowledge, skills and experience needed to carry it out safely and effectively. Standard 4.2: you must continue to provide appropriate supervision and support to those you delegate work to. Both bind the paramedic here. The test is the individual's actual knowledge, skills and experience for this task, so a job description is not enough, and the standard does not restrict delegation to fellow registrants. The supervision limb exists because delegating does not end the registrant's responsibility, so accountability does not pass wholly to the assistant. Nothing in the standard requires the registrant to perform every clinical intervention personally; appropriate task allocation is how a two-person crew runs a cardiac arrest.
law-077 · Law, Ethics & Human Factors · Human Factors · Easy · v2
Question 2 · Law, Ethics & Human Factors · Moderate
During a pre-hospital emergency anaesthetic a student paramedic on placement asks the helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) consultant whether the drawn-up dose of ketamine is correct. The consultant ridicules the student loudly in front of the crew and the police. The student says nothing further for the rest of the shift. Which of the four domains of the GMC's Good medical practice (2024) most directly addresses the consultant's conduct?
AKnowledge, skills and development
BKnowledge, skills and performance
CSafety, quality and teamwork
DColleagues, culture and safety
ETrust, probity and professionalism
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Answer: D
Colleagues, culture and safety
Good medical practice 2024 has four domains: knowledge, skills and development; patients, partnership and communication; colleagues, culture and safety; and trust and professionalism. Domain 3, colleagues, culture and safety, contains the duties this consultant has breached: doctors must treat colleagues with kindness, courtesy and respect, and must not abuse, discriminate against, bully or harass anyone. Ridiculing a student for querying a dose also silences exactly the challenge that keeps patients safe. Of the other options, only knowledge, skills and development is a 2024 domain, and it concerns keeping practice up to date rather than conduct towards colleagues. The remaining options are not 2024 domains at all, and a candidate who has learned an older or blended list may be drawn to them. For a paramedic the parallel duty is HCPC standard 7.2: support and encourage others to report concerns and do not prevent anyone from raising them.
GMC Good medical practiceGeneral Medical Council, 2024 edition (in force 30 January 2024)·Domain 3, paragraph 48: treating colleagues with kindness, courtesy and respect“You must treat colleagues with kindness, courtesy and respect.”Open at this sentence
GMC Good medical practiceGeneral Medical Council, 2024 edition (in force 30 January 2024)·Domain 3, paragraph 56: bullying and harassment“You must not abuse, discriminate against, bully, or harass anyone”Open at this sentence