Staying Sharp

[MedicNorth]

A question for those who are involved more with the industrial side of EMS

The oilfield side of EMS is one of those jobs that usually involves long periods of boredom and inactivity, interspersed with infrequents burst of "all **** breaking loose". I have met many medics on scene who have not had an active emergency in months or more, and even some who have never in their careers had anything more emergent than applying a bandaid or dispensing Tylenol.

My question is - how do you keep yourself sharp and ready for those infrequent situations in which your skills and knowledge are so important? I run drills and scenarios with the crews if the consultant is cooperative, and volunteer as an MCR during my days off, but I know that I could use more practice, even at that.

Got any tricks or routines that might help, not just for me, but also for many of those who have rarely or never used their training?

[EMSm0nster]

I would recommend a refresher course or just looking back on materials that were taught. I carry my National Curriculum with me and look through it between calls.

[canadian_ghost]

What I do is I get my partner and long time friend and we usually run drills every, or every second Thursday at the station for 2 hours. Other than that I just read over my books and read stuff on here learning new tips and tricks. Getting a high call volume I really don't know what else to recommend. Maybe a career switch to city ems ? Not to sure what else to say.

Take care.

[cosgrojo]

Drills and mock-disasters would be the best way to keep sharp. But un-fortunately they take up money, and sometimes may not be approved for training. One thing that we do at my place of employment (btw it was started by employees, not the company) is come up with a topic of the week and encourage people to participate in answering the questions. There is a point system set up for the varying difficulty of the scenario, and at the end of a 3-month span, the employee with the highest point total gets a 50 dollar gift certificate somewhere. We are having decent success with participation, and we find people are discussing EMS and situational medicine a lot more than normal while at work.

Good luck!

[iMac]

As it has been said, running some scenarios with someone is a good way of doing it. Just reviewing and quizzing yourself on old school material, books DVD etc. Online is also a great place for reviewing, with some research you will find a lot of tests and quizzes you can take, some good review material.

Outside of the rigs finding a teaching position would probably be the best alternative.

[tniuqs]

North:

Yes this can be a serious concern for many that have had limited On-Car experiance it concerns me a great deal that most in the patch just sit on their asses...hoping that the real test will never arise, SO I applaude the incentive you show! Most industrial providers are more interested in the computer games and movie watching, certianly answers my question how the term evolved and I so enjoy being called a "Band Aid" myself.

Man down drills are a must in the patch, putting an ERP on paper is JUST the Start ! One can use the Due Diligence regulations to impact on some occassion and this CAN be a way to encourage those less than stellar "rig pig's with a phone" to actually test the system in place, that said the reason that one is on-site is to do the real work of getting the gas and or oil to surface.....did someone say safely?

Drills and Senario testing really "should be" the responsibility or job of a QA guy or Gal, to assure standards...(unfortunatly senarios do fall short of the real thing) QA should NOT just count inventory and check cleanliness in the truck... they should be visiting the remote site's on a routine basis for teaching and evaluation er does the phrase: "with an ongoing medical audit" apply ? to last "man down" evaluation?

Unfortunatly, I have yet to see this implimented in ANY service for Industry in Alberta..well, the ones I have worked for despite there PR claimes and balderdash..you know the catch phrases like "premium care" "best in the patch" "biggest and best" "we care" ++++

Seriously when I see the bs on numerous websites I need a barf bag....sorry ranting again.

Have You EVER actually observed an OH +S person in the field ? Not me!

Here is a response I recieved from ASK AN EXPERT!

Regarding the OHS inspector:

We have just over 80 Occupational Health and Safety Officers throughout the province who do inspections and they have a variety of backgrounds (some likely have pre-hospital experience). All are trained and experienced in answering questions, providing advice and conducting inspections to enforce the OHS Act, Regulation and Code. If you would like to speak to an Officer, I suggest you contact the Officer who would be responsible for the work site in question. If there is no particular work site in question, I would advise any paramedic hired by a company to contact the Officer assigned to the area in which the company is working. Anyone can call our Contact Centre at 1-866-

I hope this clarifies some more issues for you.

sighned B.D.

(some likely have pre-hospital experience) ?????? The very Govenment Agency (OH+S)to set the standards....

WELL that sure makes me feel better, don't know about you.

The Term the Blind leading the Blind comes to mind.

cheers