Team:Safety/FirstAid

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Revision as of 18:45, 6 September 2016 by Mtthwhggns (talk | contribs) (Objectives: Add overriding objective.)

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Background

The first aid team is responsible for ensuring that all attendees and volunteers are able to access timely, appropriate care in the event of a medical emergency.

The team will consist mainly of volunteers with existing first aid certification who are happy to work as first aiders for a few shifts, hopefully supported by a small number of healthcare professionals who can be called upon if their expertise are required.

Objectives

The underlying aim for our team is to ensure that this event does not cause any unnecessary pressure on the local area's statutory medical services, by ensuring that as many attendees and volunteers as possible can access emergency care without leaving the site as possible. If we keep everyone we can safe on site, it should be easier to get help from the statutory emergency services in the event of a more serious incident on site.

  1. Provide a 24 hour first aid service, responding appropriately to incidents anywhere on the site within an agreed time.
  2. Provide a control and dispatch (CAD) function, monitoring the team's capacity, and liaising with other teams and external services as required.
  3. Source and make available first aid supplies for team use, and to make available at other strategic points around the site.
  4. Provide a storage service for medications that need to be kept refrigerated.
  5. Adequate clinical record-keeping to ensure that all legal requirements are met, without storing any more information than is essential.
  6. Ensure that any interested volunteers from any team can access basic training (maybe around 1hr worth) in how to deal with medical emergencies while waiting for help.

Team Roles

The following are drafts of the scope of the different roles that might be included in the team. These are based on current ideas, but are subject to change.

First Aider

The bulk of the team will be first aiders. They will need to already be trained in first aid (many 1 and 2 day courses are not quite enough, most 3 or more day courses should be what we need).

First aiders will commit to work three 8hr shifts during the event. One "day" (maybe 10:00-18:00), one "evening" (18:00-02:00) and one "night" (02:00-10:00). Of these, the "night" will be "on-call", so volunteers are fine to sleep as long as they can be mobile within a minute of receiving a call.

Within their own level of training, first aiders will;

  1. Staff the "medical centre" on site, providing a minor injury clinic and rest area, providing assessment, treatment and care to attendees and volunteers.
  2. Patrol the site on foot, dealing with minor injuries and illness where they occur.
  3. Respond quickly and safely to emergency calls on site, under the instruction of the controller on duty.
  4. Hand patients' care over to other team members or statutory ambulance crews in line with accepted practices.
  5. Keep adequate clinical records as required, while maintaining patient confidentiality.

Before the event, first aiders 'must' have;

  1. A valid first aid certificate - we need to double check the exact contents of each course, as they are all slightly different
  2. Some element of vetting/criminal records check (to be confirmed)

It would be cool, but is not mandatory, for first aiders to have;

  1. Experience in event first aid
  2. Interest in medicine/healthcare
  3. Experience in patient and casualty handling (safely using stretchers, carry chairs, etc)

Controller

Each shift will have one controller. The supervisor will cover their breaks to ensure that someone is always available support the team. The main functions of the role are;

  1. Answer calls for help from attendees, volunteers and other departments
  2. Make quick assessments of priority (this process will be well documented, so triage experience is not essential)
  3. Dispatch first aiders as deemed necessary, and, if appropriate, liaise with statutory emergency medical services or on-call healthcare professionals.
  4. Provide a basic reception service for the medical centre on site.

There are no formal requirements for this role. It would suit people who;

  1. Have an interest in, or knowledge of emergency care

Healthcare Professionals

Each day, one or two qualified healthcare professionals (Doctor, Nurse, State Registered Paramedic, etc) will be available to the team. They will act as event attendees who can be called upon any time if required, to provide care for a seriously ill or injured patient while awaiting the arrival or statutory emergency services.

These team members have really valuable skills for us, however we don't want to burden them with simple cases that first aiders are perfectly equipped to manage.

As necessary, they may be asked to provide a basic "primary care" function (similar to a GP or family doctor), providing consultation for attendees and volunteers who have a concern that cannot wait until they go home, but not serious enough to justify removal to an external emergency department.

Before the event, these members must;

  1. Have their professional registration checked

For doctors and nurses, pre-hospital care experience is a huge benefit, but absolutely not necessary!

Current Priorities

  • Establish exact requirements for the event (particularly relating to the permit).
  • Plan volunteer recruitment (it's possible this will involve an element of vetting, so will need starting some time in advance).
  • Very broadly start planning first aid point locations and deployment types, so that we are in a position to start thinking about shifts in the near future.