The 2015 Student Paramedics Australasia (SPA) International Conference was held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in September over two days. This was the premiere and biggest gathering of student paramedics, and this year over 180 delegates came from right across Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, with presenters from the above countries as well as Canada and the USA. The aim of the SPA conference is to inspire, educate and motivate student paramedics who will contribute fully to the world of paramedicine, as well as creating opportunities for delegates to network and meet leaders in the industry.
This year's conference was the eighth annual event and was hosted at Platinum Sponsor Victoria University's beautiful city campus in Melbourne. The conference was also supported by Ambulance Victoria, Edith Cowan University, Paramedics Australasia—the peak body for paramedic representation in the Asia Pacific region, the Australian and New Zealand College of Paramedics, Ferno, Medical Edge Australia and Team Australia EMS—the number one simulation team in Australia, with many significant international accolades. The conference was held over two days with practical workshops followed by the much anticipated Ferno Student Paramedic Simulation Challenge, which was held at the magnificent Federation Square in Melbourne that evening. The second day consisted of conference presentations by the esteemed speakers, followed by a networking and gala evening to end the conference.
Hands-on workshops precede main conference
This year's event kicked off on Friday 3 September with a number of pre-conference workshops.
The Airway Workshop moved through all levels of airway management, from basic airway manoeuvres through supraglottic airways onto intubation and finishing with surgical airways. The students were put through their paces by Team Australia EMS, who ran the workshop, creating great practical opportunities with animal airways as well as dummies, all backed up by a theory basis to start.
Running in the room next door, another workshop run by the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne and the Paediatric Infant Perinatal Emergency Retrieval Unit (PIPER), gave delegates an opportunity to learn about paediatric and neonatal resuscitation, including practical skills, such as bag mask ventilation and intraossesus cannulation, from the countries leading paediatric specialist nurses and doctors.
The third workshop on offer was an ECG workshop run by Air Ambulance Victoria Intensive Care Flight paramedics Ben Meadley and Matthew Shepherd. The workshop involved anatomy and physiology of the cardiac system, as well as reading and interpretation of both 3-lead and 12-lead ECGs. The workshop finished with case studies around ECG interpretation and the treatment of common cardiac conditions encountered in the pre-hospital environment.
The final workshop at this year's conference was run by SPA conference committee member and paramedic student Jess Morton, also known to many on Twitter as @EMS_Junkie. Jess took delegates through the worlds of Twitter and FOAMed (free open access medical education), and outlined how paramedics could benefit from this resource throughout their degree and career, as well as how to become involved and contribute to the worldwide community.
Teams are challenged in Ferno simulation competition
Friday night saw host to the Ferno Simulation competition. Teams were made up of students from universities right across Australia and New Zealand, as well as a team who met on the Team Australia EMS study tour to South Africa earlier in the year. The simulation took place in the middle of Fed Square, where two campers had set off a gas explosion in their attempt at cooking. One patient was revealed to have a history of asthma, which was exacerbated by the blast and smoke, as well as multiple full and partial burns to her face and torso. The other patient had a suspected spinal injury, contusion to face and fractured radius.
Every team treated both patients very well, working together to recognise and treat the major injuries as well as underlying conditions present in their patients. Overall a fantastic night, which saw student paramedics, on-road paramedics and general public watch the event unfold. Congratulations to the team from Victoria University who came in first place. Second place went to Sunshine Coast University, with the Australian Catholic University Ballarat Campus rounding off the top three. A large thank you to Ferno, the Country Fire Authority, Victoria University and Medical Edge Australia for providing equipment, personnel and support throughout the event.
Brilliant speakers incourage students in main conference
Saturday was conference day. The SPA committee worked tirelessly in the early hours of the morning to not only drain Melbourne's coffee supply but also prepare for the day. The first speaker, current Ambulance Victoria research paramedic and founding SPA convenor, Ziad Nehme, was first to kick off what was a fantastic line-up of speakers. Ziad talked about research opportunities, his own career pathway and the all important AVOID trial. The take home message from Ziad was:
‘If you don't quite think you are ready for a life on the road, and still have the itch to learn new things, students should consider an Honours course.’
While not as ‘flashy’ or ‘sexy’ as topics such as trauma, Ziad's talk was a well directed and targeted message to a room full of students dedicated to their future careers. It was both eye-opening and encouraged many students to continue further education.
The second speaker was the hilarious Geoff Kiehne, an intensive care paramedic with the Ambulance Service of New South Wales (NSW) based in remote NSW. He was humble enough to introduce himself as ‘nothing fancy, just a man from the bush.’ Geoff spoke about everything rural, asking questions such as: What do you do if you get sent rural? What are the challenges of working rurally? What are the benefits? Geoff covered everything from pay to clinical opportunities, and his take home message was undoubtedly thought provoking:
‘Rural paramedicine makes you grow up…really fast, to become self reliant, confident in your decisions, and gives you the best chance to thrive and develop as a clinician.’
Following on From Geoff was another humorous and entertaining talk, this time from Dr Peter Kas of www.resus.com.au, who spoke on resuscitation ‘then and now’. His talk included highlights of resus attempts from all the popular movies, James Bond included. The key message was: understand the theory and have the knowledge to guide your clinical decisions. A fast-paced, hard-hitting talk which challenged the morals of delegates to ‘do what they know best clinically.’
The second session of the day was packed with excitement. The next speaker was Corporal Beth Daley, who talked about her experiences working as a combat paramedic with the Royal Australian Army and the exciting opportunities, comradery and clinical differences between civilian work and army work. Beth outlined yet another career avenue for delegates to consider when stepping out of university studies.
Next was Ben Whylie-Cheer, an intermediate life support paramedic from Wellington Free Ambulance in New Zealand, who highlighted the vast prevalence of sepsis in out-of-hospital work that paramedics tend to miss. Ben started with an all important message:
‘Sepsis is fast, but paramedics need to be faster, and it is the first thing we should eliminate.’
The last talk for the session was given by Matthew Simpson, an extended care paramedic from NSW. Mathew spoke about his work as an ECP and the way the profession is moving towards a community paramedic role:
‘Ambos’ have paved the way for us now as ‘paramedics’—paramedicine is NOT external to primary health care’.
This empowered talk created the foundations for continued professional development in all delegates in the room, whether they were still staring down the barrel of a couple more years of study, or if they were graduating in a few months.
The first post-lunch talk was given by critical care paramedics Neil Noble and Gary Berkowitz, and advanced care paramedics Amy Craike, Alan Mountford and Colin Allen, who made up Team Australia EMS. Lead paramedic Neil Noble gave a very interesting, insightful and eye-opening talk about iatrogenic trauma and how we as clinicians can cause this trauma and how to avoid these mistakes. Neil's talk added a humourous side to a very important issue and it was riddled with real life examples as well as photographs, recent laws and videos. Neil's take home message offered a very important lesson for students stepping out into this career:
‘Don't panic if you make a mistake, have the humility and dignity to admit you did something wrong.’
Hugo Goodson, who currently lectures at Auckland University of Technology, and has held a number of roles throughout the paramedicince world, provided an international window perspective into the life of a paramedic working in Abu Dhabi. Hugo covered everything from the incredible sports car rapid response ambulances, right down to the pay, opportunities and daily life. It was exciting to hear what else is out there other than the state services we are groomed into, and how to grasp and find these international opportunities. Yet another fantastic talk about exploring options and new avenues to take in a career.
Last but not least to speak was the very engaging Marc Colbeck of Australian Catholic University, who spoke on the future of clinical practice guidelines, who noted: ‘we have guidelines on how to write guidelines!’ Marc invited students to participate in his research and challenge the way we see clinical practice guidelines in each service.
As the conference came to a close, delegates, committee members and speakers headed to the conference dinner for a final chance to network with fellow students, speakers and future colleagues from across Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA and the UK.
Overall the 2015 Student Paramedics Australasia International Conference was a huge success. With aims of empowering, encouraging and inspiring students from the Asia-Pacific region, the eighth annual 2015 International Student Paramedics Australasia Conference achieved this and more over a few short days.
A fantastic two days that offered excellent opportunities for networking, learning and taking part in challenges, we would like to end on a quote from Matthew Simpson, which the SPA team believe is key for all student and qualified paramedics to grow themselves and their careers:
‘Use your networks to make yourself the best possible practitioner and get the best outcomes for your patients.’