Dr Robbie King
Faculty of Health Sciences
Areas of expertise: paramedicine; community paramedicine; referral pathways; non-conveyance; hospital avoidance; compassion in out-of-hospital healthcare; paramedic-led biopsychosocial assessment; patient experience; patient reported experience measures; vulnerable populations; qualitative research; constructivist grounded theory
HDR Supervisor accreditation status: HDR Supervisor (Provisional)
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-4174-0801
Phone: +61 7 3861 6462
Email: [email protected]
Location: ACU Brisbane Campus
Dr Robbie King is a registered paramedic and academic at ACU whose research focuses on patient experience of innovative models of ambulance and paramedic-led care that improve equitable access to healthcare while reducing unnecessary emergency department utilisation. His research expertise spans consumer experience, alternative care pathways, expanded paramedic practice, holistic biopsychosocial patient assessment, and person-centred evaluation of ambulance health service innovations.
Robbie’s work has informed policy and professional practice; cited by The Australasian college of Paramedicine (ACP) within a position paper advocating for paramedics supporting team-based primary and urgent care settings (2024), and in the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) ‘Person-Centred Care Insights’ Issue #5 (2025). Robbie currently leads a co-designed industry-partnered project to develop Australia’s first validated Patient-Reported Experience Measure for alternative ambulance response models, addressing a nationally recognised gap in evaluating consumer experience in emerging ambulance healthcare delivery models. Robbie also led an international multidisciplinary collaboration to develop a biopsychosocial consultation framework to support paramedics providing care to patients with non-emergency needs. This paper is informing Community Paramedic education programs in two Australian state ambulance services and one in Denmark.
Select publications
- Gray, B., Gupta, M., & King, R. (2026). Barriers and facilitators to paramedics use of referral pathways as alternatives to emergency department presentation: A scoping review. Australasian Emergency Care. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.auec.2026.03.002
- Tunks Leach, K. J., Devenish, S., Gupta, M., Krygger, D., Levett-Jones, T., & King, R. (2026). Empathy towards the older person in paramedic-led out-of-hospital healthcare: A scoping review. Australasian Emergency Care. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.auec.2026.05.003
- King, R., Lord, B., Flanagan, B., & Oprescu, F. (2026). Characteristics of Responses from an Australian Emergency Medical Service that Resulted in Non-Conveyance: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study. International Journal of Paramedicine(15), 153-166. https://doi.org/10.56068/EEGN4929
- Pap R, McManamny T, Lloyd R, Blanchard I, King R, Coster J. Prehospital qualitology towards a harmonised conceptual framework for prehospital care quality and its evaluation. Paramedicine. 20260(0). doi:10.1177/27536386261475270
- King, R., Martin, A., Batt, A. M., Martin, S. L., Barr, N., Hwang, C., Lord, B., O’Meara, P., Reynolds, L., Hammarbäck, S., Hosein, S., Kempton, J., & Shannon, B. (2025). Towards a person-centred holistic consultation framework for paramedics attending non-acute presentations: A multidisciplinary commentary. Paramedicine, 0(0), 27536386251336760. https://doi.org/10.1177/27536386251336760
- King, R., Downer, T., Lord, B., Flanagan, B., & Oprescu, F. (2025). A Practical Example of How to Apply Constructivist Grounded Theory Methodology: Exploring Patient Experiences During Paramedic Led Healthcare. Research in Nursing and Health, 48(4), 508-521. https://doi.org/10.1002/nur.22468
- King, R., Oprescu, F. I., Lord, B., Flanagan, B., & Downer, T. (2023). Patients’ experiences of non-conveyance following an Australian ambulance service paramedic response: A constructivist grounded theory exploration. Paramedicine. https://doi.org/10.1177/27536386231163721
Accolades or awards
- Dean of Graduate Research’ Award for outstanding thesis - PhD Paramedicine ‘Exploring patient experience of non-conveyance’
- Chief Investigator (CI) - Emergency Medicine Foundation grant (EMF) - Development of a Patient Reported Experience Measure for alternative ambulance response models $99,716
Appointments and affiliations
- Fellow Australasian College of Paramedicine (FACP)
- Member - Research Advisory Committee (ACP)
- IMOC CP@clinic Australia Expert Multidisciplinary Advisory Group
- Research, Education & Engagement Committee, Health Hub Doctors, Morayfield
- QAS LARU community of practice, and LARU working group
