Physician Response Unit Training Course (August 2020)
Dr Scott Knapp and Dr David Ridley at Leicester Royal Infirmary have been working tirelessly to set up a brand new scheme designed to deliver high-quality emergency care in the community setting called the Physician Response Unit (PRU).
This new venture involves senior clinical decision-makers (inclusive of Paramedics and Emergency Medicine Registrars) that have been trained to deliver the right care for patients in the right place, at the right time. The unique feature of the PRU is that the team will attend to ALL East Midlands Ambulance Service calls – not just critically unwell patients – setting this formal scheme apart from Pre-Hospital Emergency Medicine (PHEM).
The PRU went live in Leicestershire on Wednesday 26th August 2020, whereby all EM Registrars are being supervised on a one-to-one basis by a PHEM Consultant for the first four weeks.
The PRU Training Course
All individuals involved in the PRU underwent a formal 10-day interprofessional training course covering essential theoretical knowledge and practical skills required to safely manage a variety of clinical presentations. The learning objectives and respective case scenarios covered a broad range of topics, (both common and uncommon) inclusive of adult and paediatric medical/trauma presentations.
Teaching modalities used:
Short lectures with follow-up group discussions (e.g. frailty day)
Outdoor interprofessional simulation scenarios (e.g. paediatric polytrauma)
Emergency Skills sessions (e.g. surgical airway)
Table-top exercises (e.g. major incident management)
Practical experience with Leicestershire Fire & Rescue Services (e.g. safe extrication of the patient from a car)
Our learners underwent 26 pre-hospital simulated scenarios with detailed learning outcomes that you can access using the links below. We really enjoyed delivering these sessions and wanted to make sure we shared these resources with our FOAMed community ❤️
Sim 1: Motorcycle vs Car
Sim 2: Pedestrian vs Car #1
Sim 3: Motorcyclist vs Tree
Sim 4: Pedestrian vs Car #2
Sim 5: Person trapped under a train
Sim 6: Cardiac arrest on a train
Sim 7: Isolated open tib/fib fracture
Sim 8: Jumped off a bridge
Sim 9: Chest stabbing
Sim 10: GSW & MTFA
Sim 11: Collapse in a confined space
Sim 12: Cardiac arrest in pregnancy
Sim 13: A hanging at home
Sim 14: Refractory VF
Sim 15: Minor RTC & Cardiac arrest
Sim 16: Post-ROSC instability
Sim 17: Paediatric cardiac arrest
Sim 18: Paediatric major trauma
Sim 19: Drowning in a lake
Sim 20: Paediatric seizures
Sim 21: Newborn Life Support
Sim 22: Acute behaviour disturbance
Sim 23: Driver with fractured femur
Sim 24: Driver with spinal injury
Sim 25: Multiple trapped occupants
Sim 26: Trapped with severe injury
Feedback from attendees
“Paramedics are awesome to be able to do this so effortlessly.”
“My utmost respect for pre-hospital services can not be equated.”
“The sims were great! I feel much more confident!!”
“A real eye-opener.”
“Made me appreciate the differences between PHEM and EM.”
Currently, there are four EM Registrars (ST4 minimum) enrolled on the PRU. Look out for advertisements over the next few months via social media as we will be recruiting for August 2021! If you have any queries or comments, please email Dr Scott Knapp at scott.knapp@uhl-tr.nhs.uk.
Many thanks to Dr Sunny Jutla for her help with this blog and support with the practical simulation-based training :-)
