This month we attended the pre-hospital emergency medicine (PHEM) National Induction Course with our two new PHEM trainee doctors, Jen and Vic. Dr Chris Hill, who attended the course on behalf of the HIOWAA training team, explains what our newest recruits got up to.
“Last week our new PHEM trainees, Jen & Vic, were put through their paces at the national induction course for new Air Ambulance doctors. This seven day course brings together all the new Air Ambulance doctors enrolled on the PHEM training program from across the country to train together in a variety of scenarios.
“Regular HIOWAA doctors Liz, Lou and I attended as instructors and enjoyed the opportunity to get to know our newest members of the team.
“The training centre has an amazing range of facilities and is used by a variety of the emergency services for training from the fire service, ambulance service and search and rescue teams. There is a section of railway lines with crashed trains, a collapsed building, tunnels and a working at height platform.
“The main area which is constructed from a network of old munitions storage bunkers has been made into a variety of buildings such as a house, workshop, car garage and even a makeshift drugs den! The set up is ideal for groups of trainees to rotate through a number of scenarios each day to really maximise the learning. As you might imagine safety is a strong feature in the course and we had great pleasure coming up with a number of hazards to ensure they develop a healthy sense of self preservation.
“Scenarios were themed each day, from ‘car crash day’ to ‘dangerous environments day’ and we even ran a major incident on the last day based around a simulated train crash involving a number of professional actors, fire and police officers. All the scenarios are based on real world situations, something that was brought into sharp focus when we ran a joint exercise with firearms police just a day before the tragic events in Plymouth.
“Whilst the course was challenging and gave our newest colleagues the best possible start to their training, it was a stark reminder of the vital role that Air Ambulance critical care teams can play for our patients.”
