David

Hi! My name is David, and I'm a 5th year Medical Student that completed the Prehospital Care Programme last year.

I was interested in the prehospital care programme, as it offered experience found nowhere else on the medical course. Learning more about the dynamic care offered at the forefront of emergency response complements an area of medicine that I am incredibly excited about, and helps to develop the problem solving and critical thinking skills essential in prehospital medicine. I was particularly excited to shadow the clinicians involved in this care, and appreciate the coordination of multiple emergency services to promote great patient outcomes.

I've been lucky enough to have completed observer shifts with multiple prehospital services across the East of England, comprising over 100 hours of experience. I've seen a variety of clinical situations, through which I've learnt a variety of techniques in clinical management, how to overcome logistical problems such as working in confined spaces, and how to coordinate a large team effort to resuscitate a patient.

Aside from the clinical experiences, the prehospital lecture series has been a fascinating aspect of the programme. It has really helped me understand how components, such as the Hazardous Area Response Team (HART), approach major incidents or challenging clinical scenarios. I've also been supervised in completing an analysis of literature that I will be presenting at the London Trauma Conference this year.

I'm incredibly thankful to the Cambridge Prehospital Care Programme for facilitating these learning opportunities - I feel so privileged to have been a part of it over the last year. I'm looking forward to working with the Programme over the next year and into the future!

My experience of doing the Pre-hospital Emergency Medicine SSC proved to me how much of a shame it is that students typically do not get the access to seeing pre-hospital practitioners within the course. The specialty is so diverse yet unpredictable creating an environment that throws you into the deep end of clinical medicine but is immensely enriching. Through the shifts at various ambulance services across East Anglia (EASTT, EHAAT, Magpas, BASICS), I really gained confidence in my communication skills, clinical reasoning and my general approach to patients who are acutely ill. Nowhere else in the clinical course will you get as much access to patient’s at the extremes of life, which is an immense privilege. You’re taken out of the relative safety of the hospital environment and are then given an accelerated education into how to be adaptable and how to manage stress. I thoroughly enjoyed my shifts because they showed me the most interesting people and gave me insight into people’s lives that you would otherwise not have. You get the ability to treat patients within their own homes which can feel much more personal. Additionally, the camaraderie within the crews, the ability to learn from immensely experienced clinicians and the exposure to a vast array of conditions from cardiac arrest to psychosis made each shift exciting and variable. The SSC also gave me the chance to properly explore PHEM as a specialty in a more academic approach. I really enjoyed doing my project with BASICS Essex. My supervisor was really helpful and I managed to achieve quite a lot just within a short period of time. If you have an interest in emergency medicine as a specialty or want to get out on ambulance crews to learn from pre-hospital specialists, this SSC will be so much fun for you.

The Prehospital Care Programme was a unique and invaluable experience for me. I got to observe and experience situations that most of my medical student colleagues probably will not have the chance to during their whole careers. I gained an insight into the world of prehospital medicine - and how exciting, unpredictable and challenging it can be! I had the privilege of attending a number of shifts with different prehospital teams. I observed how challenging situations were dealt with, and was inspired by how quickly people from different teams and emergency services were able to work together effectively. I learnt an enormous amount and saw a side of medicine that is so different from what you experience in the hospital setting. 

As part of the program, I also attended a number of training days with different prehospital services, and was able to get involved as a role player which made the simulations come to life for me! Attending the prehospital lecture series was also fascinating to learn more about different aspects of prehospital medicine. I also completed some research with Lisa Ramage into cardiopulmonary resuscitation induced consciousness (CPRIC) which I will be presented at the London Trauma Conference in December. This was very interesting and enjoyable and Lisa was a very supportive supervisor.

Overall, this has been a brilliant experience and I would like to thank the PCP team for organising it!