Student Voices: Jorrit Bakker – Exploring AI to Improve Pre-Hospital Care

This week, Jorrit Bakker shares his experience of taking part in our first Summer Research Programme from life on the airbase and learning from the EHAAT team to exploring how artificial intelligence could support pre-hospital care.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. 

I am Jorrit Bakker. I finished my medical training in Rotterdam this spring and have just started working as a junior doctor. I am from the Netherlands and live in Delft. The highlight of my degree was an elective with the ambulance service, where my interest in prehospital care was sparked.

Studying abroad is not new to me: I lived in Barcelona for a year to do a postgraduate research degree in acute and critical care. I also spent some months doing an elective in Intensive Care medicine in Chile. Coming to England sounded like a great opportunity, and the combination of research and prehospital care that the Summer Research Programme offers made me apply straight away.

I am happy to learn from everyone here and hopefully contribute to better care for all the patients in Essex and Herts and beyond through my research project.

How does an average day look like?

During the day we all sit together in one of the rooms on the airbase to work on our projects. This makes it easy to ask each other for help or just to think about your project. One of the advantages from being on base is the spontaneous talks Stephen organises for us: sometimes a doctor just pops in to teach us something, which is really nice.

All work abruptly stops at 11am as we hear the bell of Dorrington’s­ – the sandwich van that comes by. It is the perfect moment to stretch your legs and go buy lunch or a snack.

Most days there are also scheduled activities. Sometimes this is a lecture from Stephen about a useful topic for our research, sometimes someone else from EHAAT with an interesting talk or workshop. It is a true luxury that all those people make time for us.

What was on the programme this week?

We started the third week with an introduction to the CPR smart programme that EHAAT runs. This programme teaches school children to teach CPR on their own school. In this way they manage to teach a large amount of children CPR each year. This is important as early CPR is key in the chain of survival in cardiac arrest. It was inspiring to hear how they set up the whole programme – I also give CPR-training to school children in the Netherlands and there are certainly things I will take back home.

Furthermore, we had an impressive talk about traumatic brain injury by Professor Chris Uff. By seeing what happens once a patient arrives in hospital, you can place the prehospital care delivered by the HEMS team better into context.

Once a week the clinical team also discusses cases with each other in a confidential manner. In this way they try to learn from every patient and hence improve the care they deliver wherever they can. We learned a lot from the HEMS-doctor leading the session this week. They are all very willing to explain things and encourage us to dive deeper into specific topics ourselves.

And how is the group?

It is a very diverse but amazing group. No matter our background or age, we are all very curious and eager to learn. And with these different backgrounds, you also learn a lot from each other. Besides, it is always what we call in Dutch “gezellig” (who thought you would learn a Dutch word today?), a nice and welcoming feeling. This week we went for lunch to Rosey Leas. This charming little restaurant on the airbase lets you sit literally between the planes. And they have delicious sandwiches too!

What project have you been working on?

I work on a project with Artificial Intelligence (AI). That is completely new for me, as I don’t use AI myself at all. But that’s a nice challenge and I am learning a lot about this type of research as well, which is cool. The project is about the use of ambient voice recording by the medical team. These recordings will then be processed by a special AI algorithm made for healthcare to assist in writing the medical documentation. The aim is to help reduce the time spent on administration and help get the helicopter back in the air again as soon as possible to be ready for the next patient.

This week I finished the questionnaire I have been working on for the last days. I look forward to all the responses that will be collected in the coming weeks and hope the results will be shared soon!

⁠If you had to share one takeaway from the programme so far, what would it be?

The importance of considering the whole patient journey. In the hospital you are sometimes completely focussed on one thing. Here at EHAAT they have a broader view. Not only do they do the clinical work as a HEMS-service, but they are also involved in prevention, education and care and follow-up afterwards. Through the Centre for Excellence, they also invest in research, ensuring the best care for the future. The connection the service has with the society is special to see. In the Netherlands there is more distance to the public.

⁠Do you have any other comments you’d like to share?

As I am from the Netherlands, I am used to cycling everywhere. Now, that was quite a challenge on the first day here, as there are almost no cycle lanes. Together with another student, we luckily managed to find a safe route. Equipped with a helmet and high-visibility jacket, I now conquer the hills in Essex daily (which, for a Dutch person, are mountains!). Maybe for you it’s normal, but I enjoy the views of the sun going down behind the rolling hills and the movement of the wind through the grain fields every day again. You have a beautiful country, enjoy it!

We look forward to sharing more from the students in the coming weeks!

BACK TO BLOGS