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For the second time this year OxSTaR was involved in the Thames Valley & Chiltern Air Ambulance HEMS Crew Course. This is a 5 day course based at the SCAS Education Base in Boar’s Hill, Oxford.

This course aims to train Paramedics and HEMS doctors to Gold Standard levels of clinical practice and OxSTaR worked alongside the SCAS and HEMS training teams to provide realistic clinical scenarios for the trainees.

The course was led by Syed Masud, a Consultant in Emergency Medicine and Pre Hospital Care at the John Radcliffe Hospital and Ian Teague, SCAS Assistant Director for Learning and Development, both of whom have worked with simulation training before and realise its potential for supporting effective learning.

The simulated scenarios we ran were all based on real Pre Hospital cases and were challenging enough to give the teams as sense of pressure; it was interesting to see the stress levels rise as the scenarios were all run in real time. All the teams performed to a very professional standard and demonstrated high level of skill in teamwork, communication and scene management.

The grounds and gardens at Boars Hill were diverse enough to take the scenarios into realistic settings and the crews were challenged appropriately by this i.e. the drowning scenario involved trying to find the casualty in the woods down by the lake. We also worked with moulage for the manikins to demonstrate the injuries that the HEMS crews needed to assess.

The crews all enjoyed the training and commented on the difference having these manikins made. They were able to make clear ABCDE assessments and take make the necessary interventions such as intubation and gaining IO access. It was also very useful for us at OxSTaR as we were able to develop and refresh our skills in working in Pre Hospital Care.