Pre-Hospital Care Podcast

In this episode I chat to Jason Fox about his new book ‘Life Under Fire’  for those of you that aren’t familiar with Jason, he is a former Royal Marine Commando and Special Forces Sergeant. Joining at 16 and serving for 20 years; Jason passed the grueling selection process for the Special Forces in 2001, serving with the Special Boat Service till 2012. Jason has planned and led operations including hostage rescue, counter terrorism, counter insurgency, maritime counter terrorism, surveillance, body guarding and counter narcotic missions. He currently features in the channel 4 program - SAS: Who Dares Wins. The book is split into two parts, the first part the battle mind looks at his journey to a resilient life and mental approach.  The second part - Strength and Guile looks at the lessons learned from his 20 years as an operator and royal marines commando and inferred learning to the reader. Concepts we explore include: The concept of graded exposure to training. The sense of community and brotherhood from war. Jason's struggles with PTSD and the emotional combat indicators that signify it. The ‘cigar moment’ and how it calms the central nervous system down. Awareness of your own vulnerabilities and how it can help protect you. The preferential mode of de-escalation over aggression (grey man, passive use of the weapon). High performing teams ability to self regulate rather than externally regulate. Reframing negative events and what it can teach us about resilience. The power of debrief also known as Sensitive Site Exploitation/SSE. The concept that there is a flattened hierarchy and everyone can contribute a game changing piece of information. Not resting in the aftermath of success and using failure as a teacher. I hope you enjoy the episode. You can find 'Life under fire' by Penguin books here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1119268/life-under-fire/9781787633193.html

In this episode Julia Samuel and Caroline Phillips discuss grief and the process of bereavement. We discuss important skills for breaking bad news, bereavement by exposure and ways in which we can support our own resilience as healthcare professionals. Julia Samuel is a psychotherapist who has spent the last thirty years working with bereaved families. She has worked both in private practice and in the NHS at St Mary’s Hospital Paddington where she pioneered the role of maternity and paediatric psychotherapist. In 1994 she worked to launch and establish Child Bereavement UK as its Founder Patron, where she played a central role until September 2019. Julia was awarded an MBE in the 2015 New Year’s Honours list for services to bereaved children. She is the author of two books: Grief Works and This Too Shall Pass. We hope you enjoy the episode. Further reading: -  Child Bereavement UK https://www.childbereavementuk.org/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw2or8BRCNARIsAC_ppyYXJ4jJ5kW2226C30UnEuOOBqUA8vUbrBPiCuZFHmJ4sh1L8HHhydIaAjssEALw_wcB -  Information about Julia Samuel’s books, ‘Grief Works’ and ‘This too shall pass’ can be found here, as well as her ‘Pillars of Strength’ tips -  https://juliasamuel.co.uk -  Cruse Bereavement UK has practical resources and information for personal and professional use - https://www.cruse.org.uk

This episode explores advanced neurological conditions with Palliative Nurse Consultant Diane Laverty. Diane has over 30 years experience in palliative care and spent time in her doctorate exploring informal carers needs when looking after those with progressive neurological conditions. Motor Neurone, Parkinson’s and Multiple Sclerosis conditions are discussed, common symptoms and potential exacerbations are covered and the wider social implication on family and carers are discussed. Further reading: -  Motor Neurone Disease Association https://www.mndassociation.org -  Parkinson’s Foundation https://www.parkinson.org -  Multiple Sclerosis Society https://www.mssociety.org.uk/about-ms/what-is-ms -  Oxford Handbook of Palliative Medicine (2019) We hope you enjoy the episode.

I just wanted to do a house keeping episode to let you know what to expect in this season. We are half way through the mini series on End of Life Care and had 'recognising the dying phase' with Dr Emma Hall and 'oncological emergencies' with Merel a cancer clincial nurse specialist.  We have two more instalments of EOLC and these are around advanced neurological disease with Diane Laverty and Grief and bereavement with Julia Samuel MBE. Caroline Philips has done a fantastic job at cataloging some of these essential conversations and really helping us appreciate some of the deeper facets of end of life care. We will have some skill based episodes with myself and Nick Brown. These are looking at the skills undertaken by clinicians and everything that the text books don’t tell you around experiential learning and reflections of performing these on a daily/weekly basis - we will look at IO, splintage, intubation, IV access and other skills. We will look at pain management with a pain specialist and some of the types and methods of acute and chronic pain management that we might face in the pre-hospital environment. We will do a deep dive into one of the prolific drugs in society and that we interact with on a daily basis - that of alcohol. We will look at chronic alcoholism and how it changes physiology. We will also look at acute intoxication and why these patients can be so difficult to look after. We will start with a mini case review series as well - dissecting some challenging cases and what we can learn from these cases. We will also look at urgent care with a GP and urgent care advanced paramedic in more detail and some of the subtitles that we can learn to pick up as clinicians. Finally we will look at some of the diverse range of pre-hospital career options that are available for clinicians (paramedics, doctors and nurses) in the current climate.  We hope you enjoy the season.

In end of life care we are mindful of respecting patient’s wishes, including those relating to conveyance to acute care settings. However there are some presentations, specifically in relation to cancer, which we need to be aware of and rapidly refer onto either acute or specialist colleagues. In this episode we explore these reversible oncological emergencies based on cases seen in Merel’s clinical experience as a Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialist in a specialist cancer centre in The Netherlands. We review Neutropenic Sepsis, Superior Vena Cava Obstruction, Metastatic Spinal Cord Compression and Hypercalcaemia. Further reading: -  AACE JRCALC Clinical Guidelines (2019) – End of Life Care -  NICE Guidelines - Metastatic spinal cord compression in adults: risk assessment, diagnosis and management -  NICE Guidelines - Neutropenic sepsis: prevention and management in people with cancer -  Oxford Handbook of Palliative Medicine (2019) We hope you enjoy the episode.

In this episode Caroline Phillips hosts Dr Emma Hall, Palliative Care Consultant and discusses the signs of the final few days and hours of life. We discuss the challenges of recognising the dying phase, the importance of shared decision making and the positive aspects of shared learning between prehospital and palliative care professionals. This is part of a mini series on the Pre-hospital Care Podcast where we will start to look into topics in more depth and involve some of the subject specialists to share their experience.  We hope you enjoy the episode. Further reading: Kathryn Mannix – With the End in Mind Oxford Handbook of Palliative Medicine (2019) AACE JRCALC Clinical Guidelines (2019) – End of Life Care

In this episode we explore some of the fundamental the components what makes a good debrief. The concept of debrief effects everyone within pre-hospital care whether formal or informal. Involvement in a debrief exercise can help to make sense of events and offer the opportunity for learning that can be applied in the future. It’s power, in part, is that it takes place when the events are fresh in the mind and that all experiencers are able to contribute. In this episode we dig a little into the broad benefits of debriefing and what makes for a successful debrief exercise (as well what doesn’t) within the context of prehospital care. How can we optimise the setting and structure in which a productive conversation can be had in order to maximise the outcomes from a debrief? Also, is shared reflection just for those ‘big jobs’ or can we apply it to any experience? We look at: Definitions of debrief. What do we think debriefing is/what purpose it serves. What debriefing is not. How we can optimise the setting for a successful debrief. How to structure a debrief. Relevant content in the context of pre-hospital care. Some of the issues/pitfalls/barriers involved in debriefing. The models we refer to in the episode are here:  Gibbs cycle: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/reflective-cycle.htm The 3D model of debriefing: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-3D-model-of-debriefing%3A-defusing%2C-discovering%2C-Zigmont-Kappus/7b63a9876c39340398dedd25b48eddc5f08096b8 Other insightful resources include the book 'Never fly solo' by Rob Waldman: http://www.neverflysolo.com/about-book.html Debriefing tools: https://www.nds.org.au/images/resources/wa-safer-services/Debriefing-Tool.pdf We hope you enjoy this wide ranging conversation.

This is a wide ranging conversation on club drugs, illegal highs and Novel Psycho-active Substances (NPS) with Dr Owen Bowden Jones. Owen is a Consultant Psychiatrist with over 20 years' experience in general and substance misuse psychiatry in both the NHS and private practice. In 2010 he founded the Club Drug Clinic, offering treatment specifically for those using 'club' drugs such as cocaine, ketamine, MDMA, GHB/GBL and novel psychoactive substances. In the conversation we discuss: The definition of Club drugs and illegal highs/Novel Psychoactive substances Define the problem by age and top 5 commonly seen drug presentations (differentiate between prevalence and problem – i.e. seeking help) Examine traditional vs emergent drug trends Look at groupings of drugs – Sedatives/dissociates, stimulants, synthetic cannabinoids, hallucinogens Examples of each and on common presentations & adjunctive use (concomitant use of these drugs) Ask about sourcing & trends in where people acquire drugs presently Look at first line staff engagement – who sees these groups of patients first (not always acute presentations) Examine new harms & clinical challenges Reference project Neptune – Novel Psycho-active Treatment Uk Network There is free e-learning on club drugs, illegal highs and NPS that Owen has put together, please find it at: http://neptune-clinical-guidance.co.uk/e-learning/ Feel free to reach out to Dr Bowden-Jones here: Owen.bowdenjones@nhs.net • Clubdrugclinic.cnwl@nhs.net • www.clubdrugclinic.com • @ClubDrugClinic @OwenBowdenJones www.neptune-clinical-guidance.co.uk

In this wide ranging conversation with Will Duffin - a passionate GP, educator, adventurer, innovator and polymath we define the current problem around depression and then examine different states of depression. We also look at why people get caught in the cycle of depression and current modalities of treatment for depression (chemical intervention, groups, social prescribing, referral pathways). We then look at the concept of micro-adventure & the benefits of these together with Will’s perspective on optimising mental health and balance (work/life). We look at how do Will achieve's balance in his life and regimes that works for him. We also examine ways in which he has changed his mindset and approach to mental health over the past 10 years both as a GP and as an adventurer. We dig down into some of the statistics on Mental Health and why this is such an important topic - such as (Figures from MIND and MHFA England 2020): 1 in 4 people experience mental health issues each year 792 million people are affected by mental health issues worldwide At any given time, 1 in 6 working-age adults have symptoms associated with mental ill health Mental illness is the second-largest source of burden of disease in England. Mental illnesses are more common, long-lasting and impactful than other health conditions Men aged 40-49 have the highest suicide rates in the UK 70-75% of people with diagnosable mental illness receive no treatment at all Half of mental ill health starts by age 15 and 75% develops by age 18 I hope you enjoy this conversation with an insightful and thoughtful colleague and friend.

In this wide ranging conversation with Critical Care Paramedic Ben Watts and ED Consultant Iain Edgar we look at an overview of the TVAA service in providing critical care to the community. We also look at how expedition and military domains that they both practice can be used within the pre-hospital critical care environment. Other aspects of the conversation includes: The patient target group and demographics of the service. Examine traditional vs emergent pre-hospital presentations that Iain and Ben have seen over their time in pre-hospital care. Interventions and decision-making and how these are approached within TVAA. Critical care training approaches, quality assurance and quality improvement within the service. Frontline staff engagement and how the service both encourage and incorporate them within the scheme. Innovations that the scheme has embedding and medium to long-term innovations that may improve the program Non-technical aspects of care Vs technical skills & utilisation rates Incremental gains when orchestrating flash teams Personal learnings over the last >2 years I hope you enjoy the last of these critical care service review sessions with two insightful friends and colleagues.