Trauma training at Selly Oak

[endplay]

Only caught a part of this on this morning's BBC news but it seems that the trauma expertise gained by our medics in recent times abroad has prompted them to set up a Trauma training unit to pass on their skills. The irony is that one of the prime motivators (excuses?) for basing our medics at Selly Oak was to expose them to the trauma of a big city as Service hospitals tended to treat more service/civilian patients with chronic complaints than servicemen/women with gunshot, blast et al conditions. How times have changed.

[air pig]

That we can learn from such tragady benifits us all. The standards, skills and techniques learnt from dealing with such polytrauma patients is unavailable until times of conflict and military medical history teaches us this. Some of the great medical advances have come from warfare, development of chest (thoracic) surgery, blood transfusion and storage, damage control surgery and resuscitation, to name but a few.

The reality is that civilian doctors and nurses are not exposed on a regular basis to such seriously injured patients, so lack or are not upto date with current practice. There has been in the past resistance to promoting staff in particular nurses who have experience of managing such patients. I have a colleague who is a nurse, who after a tour in a far away place acting as an aid post medic was denied a chance of promotion because he did not have 'enough' experience. This after being on the front line dealing with everything that could be thrown at him.

Those working through this new unit, go learn have a very open mind and take with you what you have been taught and APPLY IT. Don't let managers or bosses stop you acting in the best interests of your patient.

[barnstormer1968]

Just over a week ago, I did a refresher first aid, course where I was told that certain injuries have literally double the survival rates in Afghanistan than they do in the UK.

It seems quite remarkable that in the hot, dirty and dusty conditions a squaddy can be injured in a gunfight, have to wait for a chinook, and then have a bumpy flight to hospital (in a cold/hot or draughty aircraft), and have twice the chance of someone here in the streets of the UK......Where we have: telephones; a 999 system, police tactical medics, community first responders, ambulance fast responders and ambulances etc.

That said, and with no disrespect to any NHS staff, I can fully understand how the military medic has more in common with their patient than an NHS worker dealing with a drunk who was just too pi**ed to be able to stop himself falling in front of a car!

I have no idea how NHS staff deal day in and day out with drunken/drugged oxygen thieves. Just about all medics are heroes in my book

[teeteringhead]

Some of the great medical advances have come from warfare, development of chest (thoracic) surgery, blood transfusion and storage, damage control surgery and resuscitation, to name but a few.

... advances in everything sadly. On a (?) lighter note, I was once told that (ahem) "feminine hygiene products" first appeared after WW1 - inspired by shell dressings ......

[Trim Stab]

patient than an NHS worker dealing with a drunk who was just too pi**ed to be able to stop himself falling in front of a car!

Part of my patrol medic course many years ago included an attachment to the casualty ward at St Thomas's. As we were squaddies and therefore judged capable of handling the abusive drunks, we always got the saturday night shifts. Another reason was that we could practise stitching up the wounds, setting bones etc without giving them a local anaesthetic. We found plenty of other "approved" methods to make the really oikish ones shut up too.