PCP 2021/22

Restart a Heart week

​Restart a Heart Day is an annual CPR awareness day held in October. Its aim is to raise awareness about cardiac arrest, help the public learn CPR and to empower them to put those skills to use. This year, together with LAS and St John’s Ambulance, PCP took part in planning and executing a whole week of public education events to coincide with Restart a Heart Day.

In our biggest event a group of students went to Wembley arena to teach bystander CPR. A group of 25 students set up 5 stands around the arena during a World Cup qualifier game. The public engagement following the events of the previous World Cup was great, and an overall impact of 1200 people was estimated! The students also had the opportunity to see the treatment facilities at Wembley.
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Throughout the week, students were also helping demonstrate CPR and AED skills at the LAS stand in Old Spitalfields Market, and at the St John’s Ambulance stand on Queen Mary campus. Overall, our students got approximately 3500 people engaged in CPR over the week!

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PCP students at Wembley treatment facilities

Students at St John Ambulance stand at Queen Mary Mile End Campus

Students at LAS stand in Old Spitalfields Market

Induction to new students 

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We ran induction for our new cohort of students this week, and had a chance to properly welcome everyone to the programme! This induction started with an introductory talk to the programme, then a practical ran by our Practicals Officers Omar and Eliot. New students also had the chance to familiarise themselves with some of the kit carried by LAS vehicles in demostrations with our Paramedic Lead Craig!

Welcome back!

Welcome to the 2021/22 year of PCP, and a special welcome to our new cohort of students! We would like to introduce our new committee who will be providing a great series of monthly academic forums from both expert and student speakers. 

PCP Committee 2021/22: 
PCP Lead Student: Myurri Lohesan
PCP Academic Forums Officers: Kaegan Witts and Harry Temple
PCP Secretary/ Communications Officer: Rowan Emberson
PCP Innovations Officer: Anna Helppi
PCP Conference Officer: James Tavner
PCP Intercalation Officer: Guray Mehmet
PCP Practicals Officers: Eliot Siggs and Omar Elhalwagy
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To find out about our future events, please follow and like our pages on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

PCP 2020/21

Welcome back!

Welcome to the 2020/2021 year of PCP, and a special welcome to our new cohort of students! We would like to introduce our new committee who will be providing a great series of monthly academic forums from both expert and student speakers. 

PCP Committee 2020/21: 
PCP Lead Students: Omar Elhalwagy and Carl
PCP Academic Forums Officers: Katie Gibbs
PCP Secretary/ Communications Officer: Rowan Emberson
PCP Conference Officer: Myurri Lohesan
PCP Innovations Officer: Guray Mehmet
PCP Practicals Officers: Jonas Schlautmann and James Ayre​

PCP 2019/2020

PCP Academic forum 25th february 2020​: Obstetrics emergencies

Andy Whitehouse speaking about shoulder dystocia.

Our February Academic Forum was on Obstetrics Emergencies. We had two speakers:

1. Omar Elhalwagy, a PCP student and our Academic Forums Officer. Omar talked about a complex case he attended while on shift, the process of diagnostic reasoning in this case and the change in priorities when learning more information.

2. Andy Whitehouse, a HEMS paramedic with London's Air Ambulance. His talk focused on why obstetrics emergencies can be difficult to manage in a prehospital environment and took us through the management of some emergencies you might encounter.
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​PCP Academic Forum 28th January 2020: Catastrophic Injury

Our January Academic Forum was on the topic of Catastrophic Injury. We had 3 speakers:

1. Dr. Jonny Scrimshaw, an Emergency Medicine and Prehospital Care doctor with London’s Air Ambulance and the Physician Response Unit. He spoke about traumatic cardiac arrest and catastrophic injury as a post-mortem diagnosis, highlighting why patients are worth fighting for.

2. Harry Mitchell, a fourth year MBBS student and a third-year student on the PCP programme. He spoke about a RTC he attended, the importance of reading the scene and the considerations around RTCs involving a motorcycle.

​3. Dr. Gareth Grier, a consultant with London's Air Ambulance and Clinical Director and Education Lead at The Institute of Pre-Hospital Care. He is also the co-founder of the Pre-Hospital Care iBSc which runs at Barts and The London. He explored what catastrophic injury means, talking through cases and examples. 

Dr. Jonny Scrimshaw talking through the HO(T)T principles

Harry Mitchell speaking about reading the scene

PCP Academic Forum 26th November 2019: Paediatric Trauma

Our November Academic Forum was on the topic of Paediatric Trauma. It was our first ever international one, and students on the Barts MBBS course in Malta streamed the talks for the first time. We had two speakers:

1. Dr. Prasanth Sritharan, a PCP alumn and ex-Academic Forums Officer soon to start CT1 in Anaesthetics. He spoke about a case he attended when he was a student on the PCP programme of a significant fall in a young child. He also spoke about important differences in physiology between children and adults.
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2. Dr. Andrew Wood, a HEMS anaethetist working with London's Air Ambulance with an interest in major trauma. He spoke about a case he attended, involving two paediatric patients

Dr. Andrew Wood speaking about a case he attended.

Students streaming Academic Forum in Malta

PCP Academic forum 29th october 2019: Uncertainty

Our first Academic forum of the year with our new AF Officers, Eliot Siggs and Omar Elhalwagy, was on the theme of Uncertainty in a prehospital care setting. We had three speakers:

1. Dr. Andrew Milne, a HEMS registrar with London's Air Ambulance and a trainee at the Central London School of Anaesthesia. He spoke about the sources and dimensions of uncertainty, the concept of bandwidth, and ways clinical uncertainty can be minimised.

2. Daniel Wynn, a third year MBBS student on the PCP programme, was talking about a cardiac arrest he attended, where language barriers and difficulty communicating with the patient's family made decision-making regarding continuing CPR very complex.

3. Dr. Carl Evans, a junior doctor and alumn of the Prehospital Care iBSc. He wrote his dissertation on uncertainty following out of hospital cardiac arrest and management of these patients, and has done further research on the topic since. At the forum, this is what he spoke about, focusing on airway management, drugs, refractory VF as well as where should the patient go?
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Daniel Wynn describing the scene of the case he attended.

FINAL PCP ACADEMIC FORuM 28TH MAY 2019

Especially for us time has flown since we had our first AF in September 2018 and now its is our final AF of the 2018-2019 year. For our final AF, we come full circle from the topic we originally began this year, which was on Knife Crime and Trauma. For this AF, we had three great speakers including:

1) Dr Ben Singer, discussed penetrating traumas and also on the use of REBOA and its future developments. 

2) Jon Haigh, a Tactical Response Unit Paramedic, spoke about the Do's and dont's of responding alone to a penetrating poly-trauma patient, providing a Paramedic's perspective of a case. 

3) Joe Berry, 3rd year PCP student. Joe spoke about a case he had attended with HEMS. In particular, he discussed the management of the patient with multiple penetrating injuries and hypovolemic shock.

Thank you to all the speakers that have given up their time to speak to us at these AFs and those that attended them! Massive thank you to our AF officer, Sruthi for all her hard work organising speakers and booking the lecture theatre. Now she hands the reigns of academic forums to the new AF officers, Omar and Eliot. 

Welcome back!

Welcome to the 2019/2020 year of PCP, and a special welcome to our new cohort of students! We would like to introduce our new committee who will be providing a great series of monthly academic forums from both expert and student speakers. We will also host a Prehospital Care Symposium in the spring!

PCP Committee 2019/20: 
PCP Lead Student: Jessica Froggatt
PCP Academic Forums Officers: Omar Elhalwagy and Eliot Siggs
PCP Secretary/ Communications Officer: Anna Helppi​
PCP Education Officer: Jake Roberts
PCP Alumni Officer: Zoe Carter Tai
PCP Conference Officer: Payal Karia
PCP Intercalation Officer: Jonas Schlautmann
PCP Practicals Officers: James Ayre and Dylan Middleton
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Our first academic forum of the year will be held on 29th October 2019 on the topic of Uncertainty. To find out more about our future events, please follow and like our pages on Facebook and Twitter!

PCP 2018/2019

tHE END OF A GREAT YEAR!! Goodbye for now but see you all soon!

We have now had our last AF for the 2018-2019 but almost done with this academic year.

Thank you to everyone who have helped us throughout this year from the Academic Forums to our 2 day PCP Conference: Between a Rock and a Hard Place. Massive thank you to all those that have attended these events and we hope that you gained a lot of knowledge from each.  

We hope you all enjoy the rest of the academic year and good luck to those with upcoming exams and results. 

See you all in the 2019-2020 year!

Best Wishes,

PCP Committee 2018-2019

Hello to the NEW Cohort joining the PCP team

An important aspect of the PCP year is the selection of students from the Barts Year 1 MBBS  to join the Prehospital Care Programme. The application process involved: writing a personal statement, group Interviews and individual Interviews. We had a large number of applications, which required a team of us to mark and assess the applications. All the written statements were done to a very high standard and such thank you to those that applied. After this stringent process of application and group interview, a select number of students were ranked and offered an individual interview- this was conducted and the new cohort of PCP students were chosen. 

Many congratulations to the new cohort of students that were accepted onto the programme and we welcome you to the PCP team. 

Time has come to elect our NEW PCP COMMITTEE 2019-2020 year

This year has definitely been a busy time for the 2018-2019 PCP Committee but it is now time to select and introduce the new committee that will continue the great work from this year.

We would like to introduce our new committee for the 2019/2020 year:

PCP Lead Student: Jessica Froggatt
PCP Academic Forums Officers: Omar Elhalwagy and Eliot Siggs
PCP Education Officer: Jake Roberts
PCP Alumni Officer: Zoe Carter Tai
PCP Conference Officer: Payal Karia
PCP Intercalation Officer: Jonas Schlautmann
PCP Practicals Officers: James Ayre and Dylan Middleton
PCP Secretary/ Communications Officer: Anna Helppi

The 2018/2019 committee wish the new committee all the best for the upcoming year!! 

PCP ACADEMIC fORUM 30TH aPRIL 2019

Our penultimate academic forum of the 2018/2019, which we have to admit has arrived very quickly. The April forum was based on the topic of Fundamentals of Prehospital Care. We had four speakers including:

Speaker 1: Natalie Jones, a LAS paramedic, who discussed a case that she had attended with a theme of assessing difficult patient groups. One of her key discussions will focus on the assessments of individuals with learning difficulties and/or ASD and some of the challenges that may present.

Speaker 2: Captain Neil Jeffers, the Chief Pilot with LAA, will be discussed his own experiences flying with HEMS and handling of human factors

Speaker 3 and 4: The final speakers were our fellow colleagues from the Prehospital Medicine iBSc, Zoe Leadbetter and Ashleigh Pittams. They discussed two arrest cases with a focus on the clinical details of both. In particular they discussed the primary survey of both and reflect on the cases by telling us what they learnt from these cases.

Time for the Easter Break

Another busy term for PCP, this time organising the PCP Conference, organisation of the Academic Forums and releasing the PCP SSC Application  to Year 1/Year 1 GEP MBBS students. 

It is time for our Easter Break and such wanted to wish everyone a lovely Easter, a relaxing holiday and will hopefully see some of you at our final Academic Forums. If you have any questions for us, do not hesitate to contact us here or on our Facebook page. 

**Reminder if you have attended the AFs you can receive a certificate of attendance but this will be on the basis that you have attended a least 4 AFs

Best Wishes,
PCP Committee

PCP CONFERENCE 2019: Between a rock and a hard place

We are glad to host the 2019 National Student Conference in Pre-Hospital and Emergency Medicine on 6th-7th April 2019.

We will have a weekend of fantastic morning talks from experts in the field of Pre-Hospital Medicine, covering difficult environments they have worked in and how they overcame the challenges they faced.

These morning talks will be followed by afternoon moulages and workshops allowing you to put the things learned in through out the weekend into practice and get direct feedback from experienced pre-hospital care practitioners. We will also be holding a poster competition during the weekend**

So if you are a student interested in prehospital medicine or still contemplating what specialty you would like to go into, then this conference is for you!

To buy your tickets: http://buytickets.at/pcpnationalconference2019

**Poster Competition if you have an amazing idea related to prehopsital medicine, send your posters to pcpconference@gmail.com by 24th March 2019 4pm. The posters will be marked and the winner will have the chance to attend a REBOA course as a student delegate. ​​​

PCP SSC Applications 2019

We are glad to announce we have opened our PCP SSC application for the Bart's and the London MBBS programme for Year 1/Year 1 GEP students.

We strongly encourage you to apply if you hold an interest in prehospital medicine, as the Prehospital Care Programme will give you an unrivalled insight into this unique and challenging area of medicine. You’ll be assigned an LAS paramedic mentor to join on shifts, and in your third year on the programme you’ll join the London HEMS team for night-time observer shifts. You’ll also get to take part in student and clinician led training evenings, and present at our academic forums.

N.B. Only MBBS students in Year 1/Year 1 GEP at Bart's and the London can apply for this SSC programme. 

Application deadline: 26th March 2019 midnight
More details found on: https://tinyurl.com/yxoe2oxy
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PCP ACADEMIC FORUM 26TH February 2019: rESILIENCE

Our 5th AF of the year, had a slightly different twist with an important topic of Resilience. We didn't have just 3 speakers but we have 4 speakers: 

1) Dr Mike Christian is a critical care doctor who had worked for a number of years in Canada. Has since come to the UK and is currently the Research & Clinical Effectiveness Lead - HEMS Doctor with London Air Ambulance. He is also a specialist medical officer/flight surgeon with RCAF and has worked all around the world. He spoke to us about building resilience to operational stress and exposures to trauma, with this drawing on some of his own experiences back when he was a paramedic until now. 

2) Our next speaker was Dr Matthew Walton. He works closely with Dr Christian on the topic of trauma and resilience. For this Academic Forum, he spoke about psychological resilience in Pre-Hospital Medicine. The talk will include a film screening and presentation. The film screening (shown above) was a project involving multiple doctors and healthcare professionals providing great insight into approaches to resilience.

3) Our first student speaker was Payal Karia, a 3rd year Medical Student (2nd year PCP student), who discussed a case she had attended last year. With the aim to discuss an impact of a case but also the thoughts behind it and incorporating the theme of resilience.

4) Our 2nd speaker was Jonas Schlautmann, another 3rd year Medical Student (2nd year PCP student), discussing a case he had attended and the reflective questions he had at the time. Again with the aim of the presentation to discuss thoughts of the case and the key topic of resilience. 
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PCP ACADEMIC FORUM 29TH January 2019: hEAD iNJURIES

 We return with the first AF of the 2019 year on the interesting topic of Head Injuries. We had three amazing speakers that include....

1) Prof. Mark Wilson, a consultant neurosurgeon and pre-hospital specialist working at Imperial College and as an Air Ambulance doctor. His main specialist area include acute brain injury and its early management and is the co-director of Imperial neurotrauma centre. In addition to this, has worked overseas and as an expedition doctor for expeditions to Arctic and Everest. He is also the co-founder of GoodSAM (https://www.goodsamapp.org/home) – an app that alerts doctors, nurses, paramedic and those trained in basic life support to emergencies around them.

2) Andrew Whitehouse, a Paramedic with the London Ambulance Service. He took us through a curveball of a case, to demonstrate all is not what it may seem.... The presentation was interactive and this brainteaser of a case is a great opportunity for all to practice their deductive skills.

Image illustrating how GCS may not indicate severity of a brain injury.

3) Our student speaker was, Matthew Sibley, a 4th year medical student (3rd year PCP student), who took us through a case that he had attended in the last year. The case is based around the theme of head injuries. In particular, the pathophysiology of head injuries as well as the symptoms they may present with or mimic. An interesting presentation with a student's first hand perspective.

PCP DOES the ATACC (18/01/19 - 20/01/19)

Two PCP students, Rosa and Rosie won an essay competition to be able to go and attend the ATACC course up in Yorkshire. We hope they had a great time and we can't wait to hear what they learnt! We would also like to thank the ATACC team for allowing us to attend and thanks to Sean for organising the competition. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

For some this year has flown by... and indeed it has!

We hope that you have all had an enjoyable Christmas break and soon enough we will be saying hello to the 2019 year.  

End of the 2018 Year Message

That's all folks for the 2018 year! Hope you have all enjoyed all the talks we have had so far. Our next AF is back on 29th January 2019. 

We will also have many more things up our sleeves for the 2019 year including:

- More Academic Forums in the 2019 year
- Holding our PCP National Conference (so watch out here, Facebook or Twitter for more details out soon).
- Speaking to BL 1st Year MBBS students about Prehospital Care Programme SSC application process.

See you all then!

pcp academic forum 27TH nOVEMBER 2018: CASES IN TRAUMA

Third PCP Academic Forum of the 2018/2019 year!

Had three speakers including:
1) Rosie Burd, a 3rd year PCP student, who discussed a case she had attended, which covered the clinical side of the case as well as an overall reflection of the case. Alongside her, Sean Harris, PCP Lead Paramedic spoke more about what was involved on scene but also working in cramped conditions, which may be required in a major traumatic event. 

2) Dr Halden Hutchinson-Bazely, a RAF anesthetics trainee, pre-hospital doctor with LIVES and course director of the ATACC. His talk was based on life threatening injuries for example blunt force trauma with an aspect on decision making skills required and process of extrication. 

3) Final talk was from Graham Chalk, a HEMS paramedic, who walked us through the crucial decisions made by HEMS Paramedics in the LAS control room, as they decide who to send the air ambulance and its advanced trauma team to.

PCP ACADEMIC FORUM 30TH oCTOBER 2018: Difficult Rescues

Second PCP Academic Forum of the 2018/2019 of the year. 

We had two speakers, including:
1) Vaneesa Keeley, a 3rd PCP Student, who spoke about a case she attended last year. The talk consisted of a description of a case where there was a difficult extrication due to the nature of the environment that the crew on scene were in. There was also a discussion on prehospital resuscitation and the guidelines that are in place for these events. 

2) Dr Sameer Mal, who is a London Air Ambulance HEMS doctor, spoke about his work in Australia and the major difference in prehospital medicine there and in the UK. With a major difference on distance from rural locations to major trauma centres. In addition, Dr Mal spoke about the various terrains that they would need to work in, in Australia - with this the extensive training that they would need to go through continously.

PCP ACADEMIC FORUM 25TH September 2018: KNIFE CRIME AND TRAUMA

Our first PCP Academic Forum of the 2018/2019  of the Year, which was organised by 3rd year Sruthi Vydyula. The forum explored the risk of knife crime and violence in London. 

1) Started off with a talk by 3rd PCP Student, Ellen Richards, who discussed a case she had attended in the last year. With her discussing this case is Dr Gareth Grier, a HEMS doctor, and bought his perspective on this case. 

2) Followed by a talk by Dr Duncan Bew, clinical director for Trauma and Acute Surgery at King's and is involved with the charity Growing Against Violence. 

3) A panel was then set up that included Sean Harris (PCP Lead Paramedic), Dr Duncan Bew, Shareef Mahdi (Volunteer with StreetDoctors) and Dr Gareth Grier. This involved a discussion between the panel based on a question that was asked about by the audience (image shown on right).

PCP 2018/2019: A new year and a new team

Welcome to the 2018/2019 year of PCP! We would like to introduce our new committee who will be providing a great series of forums from both expert and student speakers as well as hosting this years National PCP Conference. Our first academic forum will be held on 25th September 2018. Information is available on our Facebook page and Twitter page, so please like/follow us!

PCP 2017/2018

A brand new year - pcp 2017/18

Hello and welcome to a new year of the PCP! An all-new committee hopes to bring you an exciting year of practicals, forums, and more so watch this space for more information. Our first academic forum will be held on the 31st October 2017. More information is available on our Twitter Feed and Facebook Page, and a debrief will be posted here in the days after the forum. 

PCP 2016/2017 

PCP Applications

PCP Applications are now closed. Many thanks to all of you who have applied. 
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​- We look forward to meeting the new PCP Cohort very soon! 

FInal pcp academic forum: nerve agents - 25th april 2017 

We are sad to announce that Tuesday 25th April saw our last Academic Forum of the Academic Year. The final forum was based around the theme of Nerve Agents. 

The evening opened with Graham Chalk, Lead Paramedic & Clinical Liaison Officer in the LAA. Graham acts as the main point of contact between London's Air Ambulance and London Ambulance Service. in 2015 Graham became Paramedic Education & Development Lead. He also acts as lead faculty member for the Pre-hospital Care Course and a member of Board of Directors at Association of Air Ambulance.
Graham discussed the challenges the paramedics who work tirelessly at the HEMS dispatches desks face. Sharing real 999 calls received by the HEMS desk, Graham taught the audience the difficulties in interrogating members of the public in order to decipher those patients who are in most need of the HEMS unit. This was a very eye opening talk, and gave the audience a completely different perspective of pre-hospital medicine. 

After the break we were joined by Dr Gareth Grier - Con-convenor of the Prehospital Medicine iBSc. A familiar face to the PCP and academic forums; Dr Grier is a Consultant in Emergency Medicine and Pre-hospital care, working with the LAA.

Dr Grier delivered an interactive lecture on chemical nerve agents, with a particular focus on Sarin. Recruiting members of the audience to act as members of the public, members of parliament and police and HEMS doctors and paramedics - the scenario re-enacted a sequence of events to re-enact a chemical attack in London. 
The presentation taught us the toxidrome of nerve agents, and how people may present if exposed to Sarin, as seen recently in the Syria attacks. It re-instated Graham's talk earlier on how a paramedic working in the control room might react. The session focused on how we felt the emergency services would respond in such a scenario - reflecting on escalating a major incident and the issue of decontamination. It was discussed how such an event might be managed in the capital - with the take home message of being able to recognise characteristics of such nerve agents on people. 

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pcp student led practicals

This year our PCP students have been involved in multiple practical sessions, designed to develop the skills required when in the prehospital environment and enhance our team work and communication skills. Thepractical sessions are developed by our practical officers on the committee - Shiv Sharma and Mark Murphy. Here are some of the things are students have been up to this academic year: Airway intubation and chemical warfare PPE, splinting and packaging, BLS and ALS, and two moulage practicals. One moulage practical was designed and ran by members of the HEMS team and the other was designed and executed by the students, allowing them to think through the medicine behind the scenarios to enable them to be reenacted as realistically as possible.
​In addition to these practical sessions, a student led D&D has taken part once a month. This allows our students to discuss cases they have observed in a safe environment, and reflect and learn from one another.
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2017 academic forums

large scale multi-agency training and gang violence - march 28th 2017

March's Forum saw aspects of prehospital medicine from an alternative perspective....  

The evening began with Louise Elstow; a consultant in Emergency Management for a range of clients in public and private sectors; both in the UK and internationally. Clients across a wide range of bases. including: healthcare, nuclear and transport industries. Louise has an MSc in risk, crisis and disaster management; and is currently undertaking a PhD in nuclear recovery and contamination issues. She was a member of the team who delivered and facilitated the LiveEx in Exercise Unified Response - in her role of coordinator. The talk delivered at the forum described the exercise unified response training exercise that was executed last year. The training programme involved over 100 organisations - including all members of the emergency team, including those from abroad.  Louise explained in detail the set up of the mass casualty, which was based on two underground trains colliding, with multiple casualties. The complexitiy of scene management and multi-organisation response was highlighted, especially with the incorporation of aid received from the EU. It was interesting to see the learning points that were raised, and how each branch of the emergency services is developing their protocols and plans with regards to a major incident, in response to this exercise. See the video for how this exercise was executed.

After a short break, and information regarding the new PCP application process, we were joined by BSc PCP student Matthew Dawson.
Matt delivered his dissertation talk on gang and youth violence in relation to an event he attended whilst on a PCP shift. The case presetned was a young man who had been stabbed, which resulted in a thoractomy and transport to hospital. The talk focused however on our perceptions of young people who become victims to crimes such as this, with empahsis on the fact that "Serious youth violence does not always equal gang crime". The talk concluded with some key learning points regardng how violence in these subgroups of young people can be reduced and prevented, through organisations such as St Giles Trust and Street Doctors by breaking the cycle of offending.

​For more information on these organisations please visit:
http://www.stgilestrust.org.uk/
​http://streetdoctors.org/

PREHOSPITAL PAEDIATRIC ACADEMIC FORUM - FEBRUARY 28TH 2017

A new month brings us another academic forum and February's theme was that of paediatric prehospital care. Caring for an acutely unwell child poses its own challenges some of which were explored in this evenings discussions.
​The evening began with MRU paramedic and PCP mentor Curtis Rutter, who gave an excellent introduction to assessment and management of a child in a prehospital setting. talking through the ABCDE approach and the different challenges posed in paediatrics and signs to look out for. Curtis then went on to discuss a case he recently attended with a child in anaphylaxis, talking through the Resus UK paediatric guidelines.

​After a short break we heard from 1st year PCP student Jess Froggatt, who portrayed to us the challenges we are faced with when attending a difficult case, such as an out of hospital cardiac arrest, involving a child and their family. Talking through a case recently attended with the LAS Jess perfectly described the thoughts and feelings those in the medical profession all face when attending a difficult case.
Human factors, including the concepts of band width and becoming task focused, as well as the importance of debriefing difficult cases were widely explored.

PREHOSPITAL TRAUMA ACADEMIC FORUM - JANUARY 31ST 2017

2017 welcomed us into a PCP forum like no other!

With the Perrin Lecture Theatre packed full; the evening began with Dr Ben Singer, consultant in critical care, ECMO and anaesthetics, as well as HEMS emeritus for KSS discussing prehospital ECMO. Dr Singer spoke about the role of ECMO (Extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation) in a prehospital cardiac arrest scenario. It was emphasised the importance of being able to administer ECMO within a 30 minute window in order for better outcomes - with evidence showing an increase in survival post discharge from a prehospital cardiac arrest from <10% to 30%. Dr Singer provided an insightful account of his own experiences of ECMO and what the future held in this exciting area of prehospital care.

​The second half of the forum provided a bit of a twist compared to the normal AF setup. Based on a case attended by PCP student Ella Smith, a real time re-enactment was performed of the case: starting with the 999 call through to the handover in A&E. We were privileged to have HEMS, LAS and Police Medics participating in the live demonstration, giving the audience a real time account of what happens at a call out, in this scenario of a motorcyclist involved in an RTC. The interactive session gave audience members the opportunity to think through what they would do if they were in the shoes of either the doctor and paramedic on scene.
The forum was wrapped up with a discussion based on the case from the live demonstration, allowing both the participants and the audience to reflect on the difficulties the case presented.

​2017 is off to a great start and we look forward to seeing you all on February 28th!

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​2016 academic forums 

HaEMORRHAGE academic forum - november 29th 2016 

This months forums focus was on haemorrhage and the use of blood products in the prehospital environment, 
Our second academic forum of the year kick started with 2nd year PCP student Catharine White presenting a case discussion of a hemorrhage patient observed whilst on shift. This moving account was accompanied by on key learning points when managing such a patient. 

This was followed by Lead Clinician for the Prehospital Care Programme, Consultant in Emergency Medicine & Prehospital Care at The Royal London Hospital, and Lead Clinician for London's Air Ambulance Dr Ann Weaver. In keeping with the theme of haemorrhage; Dr Weaver talked about the challenges of administering prehospital blood products and the research that is being done to optimise this. 

cardiac arrest academic forum - october 25th 2016 

​Our first Academic Forum of the year had a great response with the Perrin LT being packed out with medical students and LAS members.

​Tonight's theme was on Medical vs. Traumatic Cardiac Arrest. The evening kicked off with a case presentation by 2nd year PCP student Jack Dryburgh-Jones discussing a medical cardiac arrest attended on an FRU shift.

​Jack talked through his own experience of a medical out of hospital cardiac arrest. Multiple aspects of the case were discussed including scene management and conducting a primary survey; highlighting the difficulties in the assessment of a non-responsive patient in the prehospital setting. LAS guidelines on management of a cardiac arrest were discussed, including the eight reversible causes. In keeping with the case scenario further teaching was provided on hypovolaemia within cardiac arrest. Jack’s talk concluded with a discussion; emphasising the importance of reflecting on difficult cases.

This was followed by a talk from HEMS Anaesthetist Dr Miller; who has experience not only working for LAA but also Sydney HEMS and Surrey Sussex Air Ambulance Trust. Dr Miller spoke about traumatic cardiac arrest and the challenges within the pre-hospital environment. This was reinforced by discussion on the difficulties of gathering and comparing data on traumatic cardiac arrest.
 
We hope this forum sets a precedent for the upcoming year and we look forward to seeing you on the 29th of November. 

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2015 ACADEMIC FORUMS

HAEMORRHAGE AND SHOCK academic forum - NOVEMBER 24th 2015

We've had our final public Academic Forum of 2015, and by all accounts it was a fantastic night! Tonight's theme was on Haemorrhage and Shock, and we kicked off with a talk from St George's Hospital Paediatric Emergency Consultant and Kent & Surrey Air Ambulance Consultant Dr Kevin Enright. 

Dr Enright talked about the history of doctors in the prehospital field and the recent advances in carrying blood/blood products via the air ambulance out to prehospital scenes. He then talked through a number of cases and mechanisms of injury, from splenic rupture to aortic dissection, and bleeding head injuries to tension pneumothoracies forgotten in the panic of treating bleeding. Overall Dr Enright's talk will ensure there's now 200+ prehospital clinicians well armed for recognising and treating haemorrhage. 

For the second half our audience broke into year groups, with first years going through the ABCDE approach, second years learning practically how to deal with haemorrhage, third/fourth/fifth years learning about burns management and fluid replacement, and paramedics/paramedic students going trough when and when not to use to fluids in the prehospital environment. We have to give special thanks to Dr Anne Weaver, Dr John McKenna, and Lead Paramedic Sarah Mortimer from London's Air Ambulance; PC Andrew Barrett a police medic; and a huge number of LAS Paramedics for giving up their time to teach students all about haemorrhage and shock. 

Finally we can't finish without mentioning our very Dr Gareth Grier, who won the Association of Air Ambulances Doctor of the Year award last week! A huge congratulations and well done to an inspirational leader and teacher.

We hope to see you all back in January for the next academic forum on London Trauma. We've taught Airway, Breathing, and Circulation in 2015... 2016 will be bringing high profile cases and complex trauma to the PCP Academic Forums!

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airway management academic forum - october 27th 2015

Another month, another Academic Forum! This month's focused on airway management and respiratory emergencies, and we're fairly certain nobody's going to neglect the airway after tonight.

We began with PCP and Prehospital Medicine iBSc student Mark Murphy discussing a hanging case. Mark brought in academic papers as well as his own experiences to talk through the steps in managing a compromised airway, airway adjuncts, and even the principles of rapid sequence induction.

Next up Lead Paramedic Craig Cassidy spoke about a case of severe asthma which saw a patient go from being essentially well to exceptionally unwell in a matter of minutes. Craig discussed the management of asthma, but also imparted fantastic advice about dealing with frightening situations.

Finally Dr Gareth Grier taught about rapid sequence induction (RSI; prehospital general anaesthesia) in terms of the procedure as well as which cases it would be indicated in. We then finished the night using television medical dramas to demonstrate how forgetting the airway can be devastating.

We were also lucky enough to be joined by students from Aarhus University's Anaestheisology and Traumatology Society from Denmark! The PCP is going international!
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Overall a wonderful evening and we hope to see you in November for Haemorrhage and Shock.

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Cardiac Arrest academic forum - september 29th 2015

We had an amazing first night back with the Cardiac Arrest Academic Forum, thank you so much to everyone that made it possible and everyone that joined us for the evening.

The night started off with a welcome address by Lead Student Siobhan Williams, who told everyone what the PCP is all about and what to expect in the year to come.

Next up was PCP student Prasanth Sritharan who presented a cardiac arrest case he attended; as well as teaching all about reversible causes of arrests, ABGs, ECGs, primary survey, and physiology of blood pressure! An exceptional presentation that even had people on their feet acting out heart rhythms!

Following that was Conrad Witek, an almnus from the inaugral year of the Barts and The London Prehospital Medicine intercalated BSc. Conrad told us all about the role of echocardiography during cardiac arrest, as well as re-affirming the importance of good quality CPR. Everyone will have taken something away from what was called a conference-worthy talk by a doctor in the audience.

Finally Dr Jenny Townsend spoke about thoractomy and what extra skills the London's Air Ambulance can bring to cardiac arrest. Jenny inspired everyone by telling her story, from being an excited prehospital-interested student (just like those in the audience) to now being a London Air Ambulance doctor. She also covered scene safety and crowd management, important skills in the prehospital environment. To end the night Dr Gareth Grier found some volunteers to enact a stabbing scenario complete with LAS responders, LAA arrival, and ultimately a thoracotomy (though thankfully no volunteers actually received a thoracotomy!).

Overall a fantastic evening filled with fantastic teaching, interactive scenarios and hopefully inspiration for future generations of doctors and paramedics. We hope to see you on October 27th for the next Academic Forum!

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