Inaugural SPIRES Event | Oxford, 2016

The Academy team have returned from a fantastic weekend in Oxford at the inaugural Student Paramedic International Rally of Emergency Simulations (SPIRES) event, organised by Oxford Brookes University in association with the College of Paramedics. 
12 teams took part and were made up of student paramedics from Turkey, Australia and the UK, who competed against each other in 8 challenging simulations over an intensive day.
I delivered the paediatric scenario, which was great fun (I had fun anyway!!) The setting was Nottinghill Carnival in London, a 6 year old child in status epilepticus. The team were working on foot with limited equipment available. It was as much a human factors sim as it was about clinical interventions - the environment was dark, loud music played throughout and confined spaces were created to fully immerse the teams into the situation.
All teams did very well under challenging circumstances, with variations in clinical practice seen from the international teams. Also, some teams realised why your kit should always be kept nearby - some naughty bystanders 'removed' it from the scene!!!

Team ARU (left) working in poor light, team QUT (below) having a hot debrief. ​

In the end, the winning paediatric team was a collaboration, 2 students from Queensland University of Technology and 1 Oxford Brookes student (right). This team performed well under pressure, managing the environment and the anxious parent whilst giving gold standard care to the child.

Really well done guys!

Other scenarios included a confused older adult, major trauma, mass casualty, obstetric emergency all designed and supported by conference sponsors and the team at Oxford Brookes. All were challenging and required a team approach to manage each situation - I was hugely impressed with the standard of care on display from all the teams that took part. 
​
At the end of the evening, I had the pleasure of presenting the final award, on behalf of the College of Paramedics, to the Plymouth A team (below)! Over the course of the day this team showed true teamwork, dedication and clinical excellence to score the highest mark overall. Very well done team!

An exciting conference programme followed on day 2, with local and international speakers giving their perspective on the profession and clinical practice. Some truly inspiring talks were given over the course of the day, which I have no doubt will have broadened the horizons of those students in attendance. 

Finally, I want to give a huge thank you to Georgette, Antonia and the team of staff and student volunteers that created this event and made it such a huge success. And thanks also to the College of Paramedics and event sponsors for their support, without which the weekend would not have been possible.

Students were engaged, enthusiastic and focussed - and most of all they enjoyed it and have key learning points to take back to their own practice. Meducation at its finest!

Oh, and no pressure team, but I can't wait for SPIRES 2017, I've already started thinking of a new paediatric simulation......!!!

By Will Broughton, Academy Director and Paramedic Educator
​(@WilBroughton / @AcademyProDev)