

Pre-Hospital Care Podcast
Eoin Walker
This podcast is designed to have engaging and inspirational conversations with some of the worlds leading experts in or relating to pre-hospital care. We hope you take a lot from the conversations both from a technical and non-technical perspective. Please rate and review the show as feedback helps ensure that the best information gets back to you throughout the project.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 18, 2020 • 1h 4min
Conflict Resolution with Ray Goodall
In this episode we explore conflict resolution with Ray Goodall. Ray is an accomplished ex-military senior officer who is skilled in developing cohesive teams and has a vast operational background. He is Internationally acclaimed War College Faculty and a military institute instructor. He is also a liaison and advisor to Presidents, Ambassadors and Generals in complex multinational combat environments. Ray has extensive Combined Joint Force and Air Component Crisis Planning experience. He is an internationally recognized expert of the Command and Control of Air Power.
In this wide ranging conversation we explore:
· The definition of Conflict resolution
· Leadership in conflict situations (enemy and colleague conflict)
· Models of conflict resolution - Strategy of Conflict and Game theory
· De-escalation techniques used (aviation/inter-personal)
· Optimisation of physiology - whether you use breathing techniques or tools to focus
· Mentoring Vs Coaching
· Rapid Decision making under stress and/or incomplete information
· Failure (anecdotal examples of how you've learnt through failure)
· Debrief & how to harness the best out of the debrief
I hope you enjoy this episode with an extremely insightful and interesting guest.

Aug 10, 2020 • 38min
Trauma with Karim Brohi
Karim is a Professor of Trauma Sciences in the Blizzard Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine & Dentistry, and Consultant Trauma & Vascular Surgeon at Barts Health NHS Trust. He is also the director of the pan London trauma system.
In this episode we look at:
Monitoring modalities and diagnostics (the advent of pre-hospital and in-hospital US, in-hospital CT & MRI) that have led to an improvement in outcome.
Whether front loading pre-hospital critical care teams with more interventions had a net positive impact on survival to discharge.
The benefit of numerical targets for physiology such as blood pressure in resuscitation or more organic end-points such as mentation/AVPU or pallor/diaphoresis/respiratory rate are more useful?
The adverse effects of complex interventional involvement in pelvic blunt injury (such as REBOA or ECMO) are worth the investment at point of injury or whether they are better placed in centres of specialism?
What we can do to prevent penetrating trauma as the upward trend in penetrating disease continues?
Look at the advances in rehabilitation services Vs impact on survival to discharge in comparison to pre-hospital, & surgical intervention?
Some of the more common injury patterns that exist more-so now compared to when Karim first started as a surgeon.
The recent challenges faced within the Pan London Trauma Networks.
The advent of Acute Traumatic Coagulopathy (ATC) in the early 2000’s and its consequential impact on survival since.
Where Karim sees the largest gains that can be made in pre-hospital care?
What Karim looks for potential in other junior clinicians
Advice that Karim would pass on to someone starting their medical career.
Aspects of mindset and approach that have changed in Karim's practice over the last 10 years
I hope you enjoy the episode.

Aug 6, 2020 • 33min
Advanced Paramedic Practitioners (Critical Care) in London with Mark Faulkner
This is a wide ranging conversation with Mark Faulkner - the clinical development manager for critical care (advanced practice) within the London Ambulance Service NHS Trust, Mark is also the clinical advisor for Major Trauma within the LAS and as such sits on the Pan London Trauma Steering Group, as well as number of national trauma groups. In this episode we examine a variety of topics that encompass decision making, experience & empirical background, additional clinical interventions, leadership & non-technical skills and support/pastoral functionalities of advanced practice.
We discuss:
Overview of the APPCC Scheme
The patient target group & demographics
Added value of interventions Vs decision making.
Training, quality assurance and quality improvement within the scheme.
First line staff engagement – who sees these groups of patients first
Innovations that the scheme has just embedding and medium to long-term innovations that have improved the program
Non-technical aspects of care Vs technical skills & utilisation rates
Incremental gains when orchestrating flash teams
Personal learnings over the last >6 years
I hope you enjoy the episode

Jul 8, 2020 • 1h 21min
Leadership with Tim Archer
In this conversation I talk with Tim Archer. Tim is a former Group Captain, he held a number of senior appointments in the RAF during which time he gained an MA in Leadership Studies from the Centre for Leadership Studies at Exeter University, a Post Grad Certificate in Executive Coaching from Lancaster University Business School and was awarded a full-time 12-month Fellowship back at the Centre for Leadership Studies.
After a spell as Director Public Sector at the Leadership Trust in the UK, he moved to the United Arab Emirates for 8 years where he was a government advisor during which time he developed, designed and taught experiential leadership development and coaching programmes. He currently works for Cardiff University developing their leadership modules for the MSc in Public Health.
We have a wide ranging conversation that touches on:
The definition of leadership Mission command - military doctrine (what to do, not how to do it - no disseminated responsibility) myth of military leadership - Constructive decent Vs destructive concept The OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) Leadership Vs Management (Kotter) Trust and cohesion – Peak rapport Homeostatic leadership Compassionate Leadership Situational leadership Leadership in conflict Leader as a coach Systems leadership - NHS Model - leading when not in charge
I hope you enjoy this episode with a fascinating guest and friend.

Jun 27, 2020 • 1h 16min
Black Lives Matter: A conversation with senior Detective Inspector Ahenkora Bediako. Restore Podcast Collaboration
This has been the most downloaded episode of all time on the Restore Podcast and very relevant to the pre-hospital community. I have decided to re-post it on the PHCP as it affects every aspect of life and of blue light personnel.
In this episode I interview a senior Detective Inspector within the police who works within the Modern Slavery and Child Exploitation Unit in London. English born and raised, of African decent and operating for 14 years within the police through the hierarchy of leadership he has a unique perspective into the contemporary climate. I first met Henk as a friend about 8 years ago and have valued his perspectives and insights as a friend and colleague battling shift-work, the reality of London and everything in-between.
We discuss some of the fundamental assumptions, biases and racism within society and aspects of law that need to be re-considered. We also discuss his standing as a leader within the institution and how we can all model progress and address the bias and racism. We also talk about representation of black and ethnic minorities within the emergency services and how this can be addressed. We also talk about the institution of the police and how the concepts of trust and of 'Non-maleficence' (do no harm) needs to be restored from the community towards the police.
I hope you enjoy this episode.

Jun 26, 2020 • 1h 10min
EMRS & EMRTS Critical Care & Retrieval Services with Wayne Auton and Tom Archer
In this episode I talk to Wayne Auton and Tom Archer who work respectively for the Scottish and Welsh Air Ambulances (EMRS & EMRTS). Wayne is a former Royal Marine and currently a Specialist Paramedic in retrieval and transfer medicine as well as pre-hospital critical care. Tom is a Critical Care Practitioner & lecturer on the Critical Care MSc in Cardiff University. In this episode I talk with Wayne and Tom about innovation within the domain, advice to aspiring critical care colleagues, top tips in leadership & group dynamics. I also ask then about how they have navigated the past 6 months both personally and as a service.
The Emergency Medical Retrieval Service (EMRS) provides critical care and transfer to definitive treatment for patients in remote healthcare locations across Scotland. They provide Consultant and Retrieval Practitioner delivered aeromedical retrieval from rural health care facilities throughout Scotland and well as pre-hospital critical care of major trauma patients, telemedicine advice to rural health care colleagues, rural facility outreach training and research in pre-hospital medicine and major incident support across the country.
The Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service (EMRTS) Cymru is an aeromedical retrieval service that provides Consultant and Critical Care Practitioner-delivered pre-hospital critical care across Wales. It was launched at the end of April 2015 and is a partnership between Wales Air Ambulance Charity, Welsh Government and NHS Wales. EMRTS provide pre-hospital critical care for all age groups (i.e. any intervention/decision that is carried outside standard paramedic practice) and undertake time-critical, life or limb-threatening adult and paediatric transfers from peripheral centres (inc. Emergency Departments, Medical Assessment Units, Minor Injury Units) for patients requiring specialist intervention at the receiving hospital.
I hope you enjoy the episode with these two great friends.
You can find out more about them both here:
Wayne:
https://www.wayneauton.com/blog-1/https/wwwwayneautoncom/blog-page-url/new-post-title
Tom:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-archer-857b2354/?originalSubdomain=uk

Jun 15, 2020 • 38min
Medic One - Seattle Fire Department with Andrew Latimer
In this conversation I talk with Andrew Latimer. Andrew is an Acting Assistant Professor in the the Department of Emergency Medicine. He is involved with quality improvement, education, and clinical and operations research in Emergency Medical Services including involvement with Seattle Fire Medic One, King County EMS, and Airlift Northwest. His research interests are in the pre-hospital care of critically ill and injured patients, pre-hospital airway management, and air medical retrieval medicine.
In this episode we look at the concepts of 'measure and improve' which have proven to make Seattle one of the world's leading institutions on cardiac arrest survival. Their main domains of practice around out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and advanced airway management (inclusive of drug-assisted intubation).
The Medic One Program began in 1970 when the first group of firefighters were trained as paramedics in cooperation with Harborview Medical Center and the University of Washington. Since then, the Medic One Program has gained notoriety due to the training and pre-hospital emergency patient care paramedics deliver within the community. Medic One provides the community with Advanced Life Support (ALS) activities that, in the past, could only be performed by physicians. In addition to responding to medical emergencies, medic units respond to all working fires, hazardous materials and rescue responses.
I hope you enjoy this episode with a fascinating clinician & individual.

Jun 14, 2020 • 55min
Life after the SBS with Stephen Burns
Stephen left the military in 2012 after serving 14 years in the Royal Marines and the SBS. At the age of 27 Stephen was awarded the Military Cross (MC) by Her Majesty the Queen for his work in Afghanistan in 2008. The MC is granted in recognition of "an act or acts of exemplary gallantry during active operations against the enemy on land" to all members of the British Armed Forces of any rank. Since 2015 he has mentored youth in schools, executives, budding sports stars, professional athletes and delivered the Limitless Programme to diverse audiences, veterans charities and public services.
In this conversation we have an honest talk about his challenges with mental health through his military service and beyond. Stephens honest and open recital of his challenges with self harm and victim mindset and how he broke this are both insightful and refreshingly honest. Through his revelations of seeking like minded community he recently started an online community (10,000) of military and blue light personnel to support, encourage and offer opportunities to like minded individuals.
His story is both encouraging and a voice of hope that despite the depths of suffering you can overcome any level of adversity with healthy community and a healthy mindset.
Please find the charity that is fundamental to Stephen's story here:
rock2recovery.co.uk
The online community of OpSpartan can be found here:
https://www.opspartan.com
More on Stephen can be found here:
https://www.wioh.co.uk/about

Jun 12, 2020 • 58min
How to survive and thrive from a life threatening head injury: With Matt Masson and Mike Nolan
In this episode we interview Matt Masson ex-extreme sports and ski instructor. In November 2011 Matt sustained a life changing head injury when he fell 26 ft through a plastic roof onto his head. He has had to re-build his life completely from re-learning to talk, to walk, to ski amongst many other things. Matt's inspirational story is a true testament to his mental determination, engagement with rehabilitation and timely pre-hospital care.
His story and YouTube video can be found here:
https://www.thewobblyjourno.com
and
https://youtu.be/xnJExrygdSk
We re-unite him with Mike Nolan the Flight Paramedic on the night (a friend and colleague) who walks him through his injury load, the sequential interventions and his initial presentation on the night. Matt is just about to release his first book together with his Mother titled 'Road to the top of the mountain'. Please enjoy this truly inspirational story told in first person.
Our thanks also goes out to the Nurse liaison team at the Royal London Hospital that initially put both Mike and Matt in contact.

Jun 9, 2020 • 53min
The Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance (MICA) program with Ben Meadley
In this conversation I chat to Ben Meadley. Ben has extensive experience in prehospital critical care, and is an operational Intensive Care Flight Paramedic (MICA) with Air Ambulance Victoria. Ben has a keen interest in prehospital critical care, advanced clinical assessment, pre-hospital critical care interventions and developing clinical judgement in critical care practitioners. MICA paramedics’ training goes beyond practical skill precision to include more detail in anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology and pharmacology to greater increase capacity to make independent complex clinical decisions and interventions. MICA paramedics operate either as part of a two person crew or as a single responder.
We look at many facets of the MICA system and the differentiation between land MICA and flight MICA systems. We dig down into Ben's experience and empirical knowledge and look at the fundamentals of high performance within the MICA system, why they exist and how they continually improve.
I hope you enjoy this conversation.


