Volume 3 Issue 1

An evaluation of high fidelity simulation training for paramedics in Ireland

<strong> Introduction:</strong> The requirement for pre-hospital practitioners to perform additional interventions is ever increasing. In Ireland the training of pre-hospital practitioners is currently developing and evolving to meet this demand. This requires the use of simulators with the capability to simulate more advanced interventions.<strong> Objectives:</strong> We wished to explore the views of pre-hospital care practitioners post participation in a pilot high fidelity simulation in emergency care, to gauge its acceptability, relevance and application.<strong> Method:</strong> Pre-hospital care practitioners’ participated in 12 full immersion high-fidelity simulated scenarios, over three consecutive days. Live video recording was during the scenarios and replayed during debriefing sessions. The participants completed a voluntary and anonymous evaluation of the training using six statements on a five point Likert scale and free text written comments to three open-ended questions.<strong> Results:</strong> The overall response to the training was overwhelming positive with 94.4 % of the participants either strongly agreed or agreed that the course met their learning needs. All agreed that they found the course relevant to their stage of training and that the course will impact beneficially on their clinical practice.<strong> Conclusion</strong>: This pilot study has shown that high-fidelity simulation is both applicable and relevant to pre-hospital practitioner.

Which paediatric weight formula is best suited for the out-of-hospital field?

Background: Weight estimation in pre-hospital paediatric emergencies is often required for the calculation of drug dosages, fluid therapy and defibrillation. In the pre-hospital field the treatment of a patient needs to occur in a timely and accurate fashion, this necessity drives the need for an accurate weight estimation formula.

Pre-hospital emergency care in sparsely populated and rural areas of South Africa

Managing premature babies in the pre-hospital environment

Babies born at ≥ 37 weeks of gestation are considered to be born at term, therefore any baby born earlier than 37 completed weeks of gestation are termed as premature babies.

Rural acute myocardial infarction survey (RAMIS)

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate why current treatment goals for patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction are not being achieved despite a large body of evidence supporting regionalised ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) systems.