University simulation puts air ambulance crews and land paramedics on the same flight path

Anyone who requires an Air Ambulance in the region can have confidence the crew will be able to work seamlessly with land ambulance paramedics, following a simulation exercise at University of Northampton.

On Thursday 24 July a team of Critical Care Paramedics (CCP) from The Air Ambulance Service charity, which covers Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland, conducted two simulations with 20 East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) Paramedics and 20 Paramedic students studying at UON.

The simulations, one patient suffering a drug overdose and the other suffering a chest injury, were designed to be as realistic as possible using the University’s simulation suite.

As they assisted, the paramedics and students learned some of the advanced techniques employed by the air ambulance crew.

Matt Stringfellow is a CCP for The Air Ambulance Service and an Associate Lecturer at the University. He said the event was part of the Continual Professional Development they all undergo as part of the medical profession.

He added: “The simulation covered interventions to improve the awareness among colleagues that we see out on the road and how we can help patients in the counties we serve.

“It’s designed to help the land crews understand which patients they should call us for, and then how to prepare the patient, so when we arrive, our interventions can be done as soon as possible.

“This is the first collaborative event like this between The Air Ambulance Service and the University of Northampton, and that’s really what we’re trying to do as a charity, to provide education to our clinical partners, so that when we work on scene together, we all work together and have a joint understanding of each other’s job roles.”

Third year paramedic student Maisie Pink-Costello said: “It’s been so enlightening. Such an amazing opportunity to be able to see what Air Ambulance medics do, the kit and the variety of medications they carry, the procedures that they do, and how we, as a crew, can work as a team without letting hierarchy get in the way.”

To find out more about studying to be a paramedic, visit the UON webpage on Public and Professional Healthcare.

To learn more about supporting The Air Ambulance Service – which receives no NHS money and relies on fundraising from the public – visit theairambulanceservice.org.uk.