What is the Prehospital Care Programme?

Prehospital care is a sub-specialty of Emergency Medicine and Anaesthesia, and Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry is in a unique position to enable undergraduate medical students to experience this new field through the London Ambulance Service (LAS) and the Trust’s department of Emergency Medicine & Prehospital Care (a department which currently attracts doctors and paramedics from around the world to train with the London Air Ambulance).

The Prehospital Care Programme offers a four year interlinking SSC for selected medical students to understand the basics of Prehospital Care by having them complete shifts with a designated paramedic/doctor mentor, who will teach and guide the students throughout their learning. The specially designed programme will not only provide education and support for medical students, but will also engage them in integrated, multi-agency, training from the London Ambulance Service (LAS) and London's Air Ambulance (LAA).

This unique educational pathway is a four year Student Selected Component of the MBBS degree, and aims to make Barts & The London a centre of excellence for this type of undergraduate Prehospital Care Training.

Aims and Objectives

Team Philosophy

  • To provide undergraduate medical students with an understanding of and experiences in Prehospital Care.
  • To acquire a set of appropriate clinical skills for students at this level and in this context.
  • To acquire a set of appropriate communication skills for this context.
  • To contribute to the Student Selected Components programme at Barts and The London School of Medicine.
  • To instruct medical students on issues relating to personal and team safety in the Prehospital environment.
  • To encourage learning in an interprofessional context.
  • To encourage interest in Prehospital Care as a career option.

  • Team work 
  • Mentoring 
  • Teaching and learning
  • Leading by example
  • Non-hierarchical structure
  • Safety
  • Patient Care
  • Confidentiality
  • Interprofessionalism ​

Mentoring


Mentoring is a central focus of the Prehospital Care Programme. As a development team, we believe that mentoring especially in the prehospital environment is invaluable.

Mentoring is primarily provided by the paramedics and doctors involved in the programme, who are each given the responsibility of mentoring a medical student. The mentoring role involves supporting the student's learning by assisting them with the completion of specified learning objects, being a positive role model, and being available to offer general advice and support. In addition to this, mentors will also watch the progression of their medical student as their skills and understanding develops over time.

The mentoring programme has expanded further to give the senior medical students the opportunity to mentor one of the new starters. This provides a further person to offer support and advice. As a team we hope that having a senior medical student who has undertaken the same learning curve in the recent past will prove to be advantageous for our new team members. Each and every member of the team accepts a general responsibility to help and support any other member of the Prehospital Care Programme.

​Within the team, both students and paramedics have seen the positive benefits the mentoring system can bring. Both groups have described the two-way flow of information and learning, and have recognised the benefits of pairing a medical student and a paramedic together. In particular, as the medical student progresses through the MBBS course, an increasing amount of specialist knowledge and information is gained which can then be shared with their paramedic mentor.

The variety of professionals involved provides a wealth of knowledge which can be shared within the team.​
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