EMS World Magazine is the most authoritative source in the world for clinical and educational material designed to improve the delivery of prehospital emergency medical care.
Issue link: https://emsworld.epubxp.com/i/131347
| By Elliot Carhart, EdD, RRT, NRP NCEE , Incorporating IADs into education can raise our level of training to accommodate challenges representative of our environment. Can Immediate Action Drills Improve EMS Education? Helping students apply their knowledge and skills in a dynamic environment I ment. You detect a left-sided pneumothorax and immediately perform needle decompression of the patient's chest. His oxygen saturation begins to climb. In less time than you could gather your thoughts, you performed immediate and critical actions that had a positive impact on your patient's outcome. You begin to reflect on how this sequence became so automatic and you recall stumbling over your actions as a new medic. This is a challenge that all EMS educators deal with as we guide our students through the learning process. While there is no single proven technique for achieving high-level performance, this article will introduce you to the concept of immediate action drills and how its application in EMS education might improve performance under pressure. Background Paramedics work in unpredictable environments, in which life-or-death decisions must be made.1, 2 Challenges are amplified by environmental factors such as exposure to loud noises and poor lighting.3 To perform effectively and independently in this dynamic environment paramedics must possess confidence and demonstrate excellent judgment.4 So how does a new paramedic achieve this level of performance? Photos by Dan Limmer t's been nearly 20 minutes since your patient was on the losing end of a confict between his motorcycle and a guardrail. You've since intubated him, started two large-bore IVs and you're now 10 minutes away from the trauma center. Now you hear your monitor alarm—"Low SpO2." A single word immediately enters your mind: DOPE. You're not thinking of reasons why your patient might have crashed his motorcycle, you're troubleshooting.You quickly work through this mnemonic, which stands for dislodged, obstructed, pneumothorax and equip- EMSWORLD.com | JUNE 2013 49