This course provides the knowledge and skills needed to provide Basic Life Support medical assessment and treatment for casualties found in remote and austere environments.  Content areas include airway management, history taking, techniques of the physical examination, patient assessment, clinical decision making, communications, documentation and assessment based management.

Competences: 

at the end of the module/unit the learner will have acquired the responsibility and autonomy to:

1. The delegate will learn to manage medical emergencies independently that require problem-solving techniques where there are many factors, some of which interact and lead to unpredictable outcomes.

2. The delegate will show creativity in managing medical emergencies, manages people and reviews performance of self and others; trains others to assist him during medical emergencies.

3. The delegate will express a comprehensive internalised personal worldview by utilising the Gibbs reflective model for reflecting on past performance.

4. The delegate will learn skills to undertake further emergency medical studies with a degree of autonomy.

Knowledge

at the end of the module/unit the learner will have been exposed to the following:

1. The delegate will build on their foundational knowledge of the patient assessment and develop advanced concepts in medical treatment for injuries found in remote and austere environments.

2. The delegate will develop strategic and creative responses in researching solutions to well-defined concrete and abstract problems.

3. The delegate will learn to makes judgements based on knowledge of relevant social and ethical issues surrounding patient assessment, trauma assessment and medical assessment including the treatments for medical emergencies found in resource-poor environments. 

Skills – at the end of the module/unit the learner will have mastered the following skills:

1. The delegate will understand advanced textbooks that will lead to further academic medical learning and will research solutions to abstract medical problems.

2. The delegate will demonstrate operational capacity and medical management skills using creativity and improvisation.

3. The delegate will interact with other medical team members to convey abstract and concrete medical solutions to emergencies.

4. The delegate will formulate practical and theoretical responses to abstract and concrete medical problems and makes judgements on social and ethical issues pertaining to the medical casualty.

5. The delegate will evaluate their own medical learning and will improve key competences for further medical learning and will promote team training.

6. The delegate shows responsibility for the reflective and efficient management of medical emergencies within agreed timeframes.

Judgment Skills and Critical Abilities

The delegate will be able to: 

1. Demonstration the assessment and treatment of BLS injuries.

2. Demonstrate the use of the medical equipment found in a Basic Life Support emergency vehicle.

3. Transfer patients/clients in and out of bed from stretchers and wheelchairs.

4. Perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)

5. Demonstration the use of BLS airway adjuncts

6. Perform a trauma and medical assessment

7. Demonstrate how to stop catastrophic and non-catastrophic bleeding

8. Demonstrate the knowledge and use of the pulse oximeter, blood pressure cuff, stethoscope, glucometer, oxygen administration, oral suctioning, and spinal immobilization

9. Demonstrate splinting and immobilisation techniques

10. Demonstrate the knowledge and administration of BLS drugs