"There will be safe clinical guidelines that will be applied for the use of this drug. "This drug will be used to try to manage and control individuals who might be in an agitated or violent state." The move required no legislative change, but would not take affect until the droperidol was procured and paramedics received the required training. Queensland Ambulance Service director of clinical quality and safety Tony Hucker said the trigger point for the administration of droperidol was only after physical restraint, so it would be used as a last resort. Mr Hucker said droperidol was an anti-psychotic with "a nice risk profile compared to other drugs we use".

"We are most interested in patients who have a medical cause for that agitation. "Most of the time, it is alcohol or some toxic substance that's causing the agitation, so we don't want to add to the mix. "What we want to do is actually de-escalate them, provide the safest environment we can and, where necessary, we'll sedate them with the best drug we can and right now, we think that's droperidol." But Mr Hucker conceded there was still an element of risk involved. "There's no magic drug we can give someone without any risk, of course there could be an allergy," he said.

"But we're well trained and we can deal with that." Previously, advanced care paramedics could only sedate patients after a consult with superiors. Mr Dick said paramedics would have legal protection should something go wrong. "They'll have the same protection as any medical practitioner in the state," he said. QAS deputy commissioner Dee Taylor-Dutton said she expected all paramedics to have completed their training by the end of the year.

Mr Dick said the Palaszczuk government would implement all 15 recommendations contained in the report. Other recommendations included self-defence and situational awareness training, developmed with the Queensland Police Force, and the use of new technology, such as better integration with police information networks. United Voice member and frontline paramedic Liesel Cahalan, who was part of the taskforce, said she was glad to see the recommendations endorsed. "Sedation is just one of the 15 (recommendations), but it's great to see we can now do it independently without having to consult, because that will save us a bit of time if you're in that sort of tricky situation," she said. One of the technological options mentioned in the report was personal body cameras, which Mr Dick said would be further considered by the end of the year.

But for Ms Cahalan, cameras would be a step too far. Loading "I don't think it's the best, because a majority of our patients are very nice people and they're in a true emergency," she said. "I wouldn't want to come across as someone that's recording you and keeping that for possible lawsuits or whatever."