Dr brian maguire

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2009 Fulbright Senior Scholar

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“Injury rates among ambulance personnel have been found to be higher than the rates for any other occupational group in the United States; fatality rates are more than twice the U.S. national average and are comparable with other high risk occupations such as police officers and fire-fighters.”

Dr. Brian Maguire, a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Maryland, has won a Fulbright Senior Scholarship from the Australian-American Fulbright Commission to come to Australia for four months to undertake research at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia and teach at Charles Sturt and Flinders Universities.

Through his Fulbright, Brian will extend his U.S. research in the study of occupational injuries to those occurring among ambulance personnel in Australia. His research objectives are to reduce the costs and early career terminations associated with these risks as well as developing practices that can be used to reduce risks for ambulance workers worldwide.

“Communities depend on ambulance personnel, yet studies show that the occupation carries very high risks,” Brian said. “Despite these worrying figures, very little research has been done on factors that influence risks and there have been few documented attempts to develop interventions to mitigate those risks.”

Australia offers a number of advantages for furthering this research: the advanced development of the ambulance system; the high rate of ambulance worker injuries found by The Australian Safety and Compensation Council; and, the interest in the project expressed by Australian universities. While he is in Australia, Dr. Maguire will collect and analyse injury data on Australian ambulance personnel, and he will also deliver lectures to university students and ambulance personnel.

Brian has a master’s degree in healthcare administration from Central Michigan University and a Doctor of Public Health degree from George Washington University in Washington DC. The Fulbright research is a culmination of his three decades of involvement in emergency medical services. That experience includes two decades in the New York City health care system working as a paramedic, EMS training director, hospital administrator and agency president. He has been a university faculty member since 1994.

Brian is one of 19 American Fulbright Scholars travelling to Australia in 2009/2010.