Patients become seriously injured or ill in many different situations and environments and therefore have initial contact with a wide
range of professionals and volunteers...

The earlier the seriousness of a patient’s illness or injury is recognised and escalated, the quicker we can be dispatched and arrive to join the team caring for a patient. To support this recognition and escalation, our critical care team have developed an extensive ‘outreach’ initiative which aims to educate and empower our emergency service colleagues to mobilise critical care for patients in need.

Outreach involves a range of immersive educational days which see our team engage with many different local organisations, including community first responder groups, ambulance service staff, neighbouring air ambulance teams, hazardous area response teams, lifeguards, HM coastguard search and rescue, lowland search and rescue, fire and rescue service, police firearms and university students from paramedic, medical and nursing backgrounds. Intense and challenging simulated training exercises are developed, which enable trusting working relationships to develop and demonstrate the different working methods and the various types of equipment carried by the different parties.

Outreach interaction with the region’s hospitals is also essential. Close collaboration with the staff of emergency departments and intensive care units of receiving hospitals means that our critical care team and the region’s hospital staff have open and trusted communications, allowing patients to flow more smoothly into the correct hospital environment for their ongoing care needs. This depth of integration plays a significant role when a patient needs to be transferred from one hospital to another, enabling the DSAA team and hospital staff to safely and very efficiently transfer care across long distances.

Outreach exists to improve patient care by forging and improving relations across the emergency service and hospital communities. It also aims to inspire those caring for critically ill or injured patients to continue to develop their practice and be given the foundation to pursue a career in pre-hospital critical care medicine. Ultimately, the focus is on saving lives and improving patient pathways.

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