Course content and synopsis:

Be prepared to be challenged – 3 days that are both mentally and physically demanding. Designed for experienced outdoor professionals who operate in more remote and challenging environments. On this course we’ll work you hard, so when you leave you can be sure you’ll be able to deal effectively with the worst situations in the worst environments.

• Basic Life Support and Defibs

• Primary Survey Issues

• Secondary Survey Issues

• Medical Problems – including diabetes, seizures, strokes, heart problems, anaphylaxis, etc.

• Traumatic injuries – including chest trauma, major bleeds, bone and joint injuries, wounds, etc.

• Spinal Injuries

• Drowning

• Lone working implications and regulations

• Lymes and Weils disease

• Environmental issues – both hot and cold

• Stepwise approach to catastrophic bleeds, haemostatics and tourniquets

• Water based rescue considerations including hydrostatic squeeze and autonomic conflict

• Prolonged immersion and rescue implications

• Advanced Environmental skills

• Advanced diagnostics

With plenty of hands on practical sessions and extended demanding scenarios, including night work.

About Our Courses

The ethos and history of our courses:

These unique and versatile courses have been written by Jason with the typical outdoor professional in mind, wether your clients are leading day trips in benign environments or multi day expeditions on the Wild West Coast of Scotland, these courses will provide you with the first aid skills they need. The courses have their beginnings in the Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Basic First Aid Course that Jason wrote over 25 years ago - designed to support rescue professionals operating in the harshest of environments.

Following a common-sense approach and building on those skills that outdoor sportspeople already have. With that in mind we recognise that equipment is generally limited in the outdoor environment and so, the courses will focus on reaching the highest standards of casualty care whilst using the minimum of equipment; a small first aid kit and typical outdoor gear. We encourage all our students to ‘do the simple but important things well’ and as such we will endeavour to keep medical terminology and gadgets to the minimum. In addition to this, by utilising Jason’s Master’s and Doctoral study the course and the resources we provide are specifically designed to enhance situational awareness and aid rapid decision making under pressure - something you know your going to need if things go wrong.

Over the last 25 years the course has been built upon 4 pillars:

• Good Practice

  All the information we will teach you is fully referenced in accordance with the Health and Safety Executive’s guidance. So, if it’s not covered by the St John’s Manual of First Aid or the UK Resuscitation Council then it will be published by one of the main medical bodies in the UK. In short – we’re not making things up!

• Appropriate

  The course is designed for outdoor professionals, not doctors and paramedics... So, while, some of the fancy paramedic skills may be interesting to learn about, we won’t be covering them. They’re not appropriate for first aider’s, even in remote locations. You’ll have enough on your plate just doing first aid in the outdoors without trying to remember loads of fancy stuff. So, we’re going to get you to be good at the things you will actually be able to do, with equipment you will realistically carry.

• Easy to Remember

  Let’s face it, as an outdoor professional, first aid isn’t something you want to do a lot of; better to avoid that with your clients and colleagues! Typically, most outdoor professionals don’t practice their first aid skills much either. Therefore, if you’re ever faced with a bad incident that requires first aid, you’ll certainly be feeling under pressure, for the sake of the casualty, your business, and your own mental health its super important you’re able to deliver the goods. So, we deliver the course in a way that allows you to get the job done. We won’t be giving you lists of things to store away inside your head knowing that you’ll just forget them before long. We’ll use our years of experience of delivering care to people in the wilds of the UK and beyond, to teach you in a way that means you’ll be able to act effectively without remembering loads!

• Focus on Adaptable Principles

  The outdoors is a complex and varied beast, so helping ill and injured people in the wilds can be even more complex. So ‘one size fits all techniques’ are never going to help you deal with that complexity. Fortunately, to work and play in that environment, outdoor professionals tend to be quite a pragmatic and ingenious bunch! So, we’re going to build on that – by focussing on simple but effective principles... By understanding these you will be able to apply those principles using the typical gear you carry and in a wide range of outdoor environments.

Assessment

All course candidates are fully assessed using written and practical summative assessment. Course records are maintained for the duration of the certification period.

Course Compliance

All our courses are run in accordance with our comprehensive syllabi and scheme’s of work. These are, in turn, fully referenced in accordance with HSE requirements to the UK Voluntary First Aid bodies, UK Resuscitation Council or a UK Sound Body of Medical Opinion. Course content, structure and instructors all meet the stringent due diligence requirements of Rescue Emergency Care one of the UK's leading specialist first aid awarding organisations. All candidates are required to acknowledge that they have completed and understood all course learning outcomes - records are maintained by us for the duration of the certification period.

COURSE CERTIFICATION

*All courses are designed and written by us and fully certified by REC.