Paramedics refine road crash rescue skills

Practising high-fidelity, real time road crash rescues sharpens the skills of Ambulance Victoria paramedics, ensuring they’re ready when you need them.

Paramedics trained with Country Fire Authority (CFA) firefighters and Victoria Police in the multiagency exercise in Werribee this week.

Now in its ninth year, the training exercise dispatched emergency services to two scenarios mimicking real-life motor vehicle crashes, involving a bus and a car.

Ambulance Victoria Acting Senior Team Manager Blixa Webster said the training scenarios are designed to be as realistic as possible to help improve crews’ skills and confidence when responding to road crash rescue incidents.

“This annual training exercise gives paramedics and our emergency service colleagues the chance to practise critical skills in a controlled setting, while still having it feel realistic,” Blixa said.

“This is the first year we’ve completed the training using a bus containing multiple patients, which places additional stress on the responding crews.

“To keep the training as realistic as possible, both of the real time exercises saw our paramedics use the equipment they have on road and included a live communications dispatcher, which helped simulate providing timely emergency care to patients, played by both actors and manikins.

“Even in a simulation, road crash rescue incidents are confronting. These exercises allow our paramedics to practise working as a team with other emergency services while also receiving real-time feedback.”

A main focus of the simulation was working alongside CFA and Victoria Police to extricate and treat mechanically trapped patients with critical injuries.

“When faced with entrapped motor vehicle patients in real life, a high level of collaboration and strong communication is required between paramedics and our emergency service partners to ensure we’re working together to get the patient the definitive care they require in a timely manner,” Blixa said.

“These patients are often critically unwell, so it’s essential everyone on scene is familiar with their role and confident in their abilities.

“Each year I am impressed by the volume of staff who volunteer their time to participate in this opportunity. These training nights are such a great way to ensure we continue to provide best care to patients when it matters most.

“We appreciate the ongoing relationship we have with our partner agencies here in Wyndham and consider ourselves fortunate to be in a position to provide these training exercises each year.”

The evening also consisted of skill workshop stations where participants could practice clinical skills such as fitting a pelvic binder, using traction splints, utilising haemostatic dressings and performing needle thoracostomy.