Centre for Excellence Education & Training
Our clinicians must ‘think on their feet’ and make decisions for patients based on an ever-evolving set of circumstances. Our education programmes are specially designed with the needs of our patients and their families as our primary consideration.
All team members, regardless of their background and expertise must undertake a bespoke 6-day course.
- Six days of lectures, practical sessions, debates and discussions
- Workshops focus on the slow learning of new skills
- Coached moulages focus on advising, assisting and supporting our clinicians through new scenarios
- Facilitated moulages encourage clinicians to become more autonomous while being supported where necessary
- ‘Moulages’ bring together all the components of a ‘real’ scene to the simulated environment so that clinicians can rehearse, learn and critique their practice with the support of our faculty team
- Our current clinical team are all involved in supporting the course, passing on their wisdom to the next generation of clinicians
Our PHCC brings a ‘cast of many’ to our airbase at North Weald, including our ambulance service colleagues who give up their time to come and support our education work.
Our charity team works hard behind the scenes to support our education programmes. They also play a part in our courses, gaining insight into the work of our operational teams so that they can pass on crucial messages to our donors and supporters.
Our education lead is Lisa Burrell. Read more about the PHCC and what we are trying to achieve through the important bi-annual event, here.
Each time we run our course we receive feedback from participants. This enables us to learn from what we do, attempting to constantly improve the learning experience, and ultimately, the care our patients receive.
Our Centre for Excellence administrator, Deborah Cooper, is one of the leads for our Prehospital Care Course. She says:
”It is incredible to feel the energy around the course and to bring everyone together on a combined mission. It feels like the course is a highlight of the calendar at EHAAT. It is a lot of work to bring together, but it’s definitely worth it when we know that the material will be put into practice for real patients and their families.”
Our education lead and head injury team bring together regular masterclasses on head injury, one of our Centre for Excellence clinical domains. We regularly see patients with head injury across the spectrum of severity. Engaging with our community of emergency medical teams is crucial if we are to secure the best outcome for our patients.
We want our head injured patients to receive the best care in the world. It is clear that there is a ‘chain of survival in head injury, as well as in cardiac arrest. In working with our community, medical responders, and hospital-based teams, we are determined to influence the care our patients receive at every stage of the chain.
As is the case with head injury, we know that the best outcomes for patients who have suffered cardiac arrest occur when all the links in the chain of survival are implemented, and flow seamlessly. Our teams spend a considerable amount of time working with the public (see our clinical community section), first responders, and the ambulance service to plan and rehearse for events where we come together as one team to help. Delivering the highest quality resuscitation to every patient who needs us is our intention and as we know, practice makes perfect!!
We know that when someone suffers a cardiac arrest, the attention to detail at every step in their treatment is crucial. Our teams rehearse the delivery of HPCPR every week, focusing on vital issues such as:
- How do we know that our chest compressions are effective?
- How can we reduce the chest compression fraction (the time during a resuscitation attempt where chest compressions are not being performed)
- How do we best make sure enough oxygen is delivered while chest compressions continue
- How do we help the body exhale carbon dioxide during chest compressions
- How do we make sure that every attempt at defibrillation is optimised?
- How do we maintain the dignity of our patients during all of this?
- How do we best speak with families and loved-ones while also delivering the best technical care that we can?
- How do a medical team, who have never worked together before, come together and get the treatment right every time? This phenomenon is termed a ‘flash team’ and we do a lot of work to make sure that we maximise all of the talents and skills that come together, for the benefit of our patients.
Modern day medical education requires an investment in a high-quality faculty of teachers and mentors. We are committed to developing a first-class group of people into leaders in prehospital medical education. Faculty training days happen regularly at EHAAT, all part of making sure that the future is bright for those who come to work with, and alongside us.
Our faculty brings hundreds of years of combined wisdom and experience to our new team members. Passing on this ‘corporate memory’ to the next generation of clinicians is crucial for our patients.