MEDIC Training: What the trainees really need is to get hands on experience

Medical standards in the CP industry have improved dramatically over the course of the last few years.
FAAW First Aid at Work used to be the only requirement.

Now CPO's operating in UK/abroad are asked to have the FPOSi as a minimum medical standard of training.
Many companies these days also ask for the MIRA.

Whichever course you choose to do, and whether you decide to go a step further and do the EMT-B, what you really need and want after training is to gain first hand operational experience on the field.

It is all good and well training in a comfortable environment in nice conditions, but what most trainees really need and want is to gain knowledge from real life experiences and real life emergency situations.

This brings me to list a few training providers who take into account the fact that a course is simply not enough and that students need to gain knowledge in real life scenarios.

*Ronin South Africa have a remote medic course and I don't know if it is still done as they had some issues with it but trainees would be out with a Cape Town Ambulance Service
Gun shot wounds are not that rare in that part of the world.
http://www.ronin.co.za/index.php/remote-medic60/remote-medic-advanced

*PPA International can send trainees to Croatia or Bosnia with an Ambulance Service after the Combat Medic/EMT-B course
http://www.ppa-int.com/Combat_Medic_EMT-B.html

*I was reading the new Circuit magazine that has just come out and there was a good article on a new company called Mare International that can send medics wanting experience to Mexico.
The good thing about this is that the company take care of everything, including Spanish lessons.
So not only do you come out of this with real life medic experiences, but also more proficient in Spanish.
http://mare-international.com/index.php

*Magen David Adom, the Israeli Ambulance service takes on and trains volunteers.
The downside is that if you are over 30 years old you can forget it.
http://www.mdais.com/Volunteers/

*A company called EVP is looking for volunteers for Israel.
EVP stands for Emergency Volunteers Project.EVP is a group of trained volunteers that assist Israel in a time of crisis or disaster. So basically, they are looking for paramedics, firefighters, nurses, doctors, and even lay persons. Once you volunteer, you would go to Israel for a training program that would bridge the gap between your current professional training and the details you would need to know to function in Israel. Once you have completed the EVP training, you would be able to legally function in Israel in your area of expertise during a crisis.
http://www.evp.org.il/

*Volunteer with International Medical Relief.
They sometimes have some interesting trips:
http://www.internationalmedicalrelief.org/upcoming-medical-missions-trips/

*A broader view volunteers
https://www.abroaderview.org/programs/medical-dental-healthcare


Please add posts below if you know of any short term easy ways of getting hands on experience with various Emergency Medical Services around the world.

The SOS Group http://www.thesosgroup.co.uk/medical/index.html offer ambulance attachments in Guatemala as part of some of their courses (EMT-B - http://www.thesosgroup.co.uk/courses/course_details.php?coursenumber=80&courseone=63&coursetwo=74&coursethree=48).

Research is key

Awesome Jomac! Many thanks for providing that link and adding some meat on the bones. (This post is going to be fantastic!)

Guatemala seems a great place to be in the thick of things!
The SOS Group are members of the forum, but they haven't yet posted much.

Brilliant post Ted.



"One thing is to shoot a guy in the distance, another thing is to see the terminal effect".



If you have the opportunity to confront your skills to the real world, you should not hesitate a single second.



As far as I know, Ronin still send their guys on ambulance shifts. Their problems are more about having their advanced quals acknowledged by the HPCSA.



EVP sounds like an idea for an off-rotation sometime...

Thanks Wo!

And thanks for confirming Ronin still send guys out to participate in real life scenarios and experience real trauma.

You also have Remote Medicine Ireland.

http://www.remotemedicine.ie/

I'm currently running their AREMT Paramedic course with clinical and ambulance placements in Johannesburg, SA.
They also provide US Paramedic course (I think they are the only one in Europe)

Hi all, Very new to the CPD forum and great to see there is some good discussion on this. Ted, thanks for the mention and although I am obviously biased I will try and stay on the fence.

Some of the other courses and placements are great for people who want to get their qualifications, I especially like the remote medicine.ie package above and SOS.

If you already have at minimum an FPOS or MIRA and just want to get hands on experience onto your CV for a good few weeks even months then this I suppose is where we could come in with our Mexico project. You can stay as long as you want and cost decreases significantly the longer you are out there. We also try and tailor placements if we can and have options to get people up into Northern mexico where GSWs and trauma are even more commonplace.

Kind of on the fence .......

Many thanks for the information.
Sounds great and the good thing about your company is that people can choose the length of time they want to stay because someone working in the CP arena may only have 10-15 days leave and cannot give more time.

mare-international wrote:Hi all, Very new to the CPD forum and great to see there is some good discussion on this. Ted, thanks for the mention and although I am obviously biased I will try and stay on the fence.

Some of the other courses and placements are great for people who want to get their qualifications, I especially like the remote medicine.ie package above and SOS.

If you already have at minimum an FPOS or MIRA and just want to get hands on experience onto your CV for a good few weeks even months then this I suppose is where we could come in with our Mexico project. You can stay as long as you want and cost decreases significantly the longer you are out there. We also try and tailor placements if we can and have options to get people up into Northern mexico where GSWs and trauma are even more commonplace.

Kind of on the fence .......

That's me tempted ! Great, thanks for the info.



Now, could you please post an introduction in the relevant section ?