A group of 24 enthusiastic RAHC Registered Nurses (RNs) attended a Remote Emergency Care (REC) course from 10 – 12 February 2017 at the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation branch in Melbourne.
The REC is a one-of-a-kind three-day, face-to-face course sponsored by RAHC and is developed by CRANAplus in conjunction with the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) and the College of Emergency Medicine. The course is designed to enable remote Health Professionals (HPs) to upskill and enhance their knowledge to help them to respond with confidence and deliver quality care in emergency situations.
The course consisted of various hands-on assessments and skill stations covering important aspects of cardiac emergencies, airway stations, mental health scenarios, multiple-causality in a remote scenario, spinal injuries, pain management, paediatrics and more.
CRANAplus trainer, Sue Orsmond and her team of assessors delivered a great learning and development experience, catering to the diverse range of incidents and situations occurring in a remote setting.
Exclusive to this course hosted by RAHC is the session on suturing. Suturing is a vitality important and useful skill to hold for those willing to work remote.
Aaron Richardson, Acting Clinical Manager of Remote Area Health Corps, said, “We commenced sponsoring an annual REC course for RAHC Health Professionals with CRANAplus in 2009 as a way to help our HPs complete this vital training. Since then it has grown into an essential part of our Professional Development support.”
The REC course is worth 20 hours of Continuing Professional Development (CPD), and it is endorsed by the Royal Australian College of General Practice (RACGP), Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) and Australian College of Nursing (ACN).
This course provides an excellent opportunity for the RNs to meet other team members and to share their experiences of living and working in the remote areas of the Northern Territory.
One of our new-to-remote participants, Catherine Dally, commented, “The presenters were friendly and engaging, and I learnt a lot about remote procedures in the course. What I found exceptional was the opportunity to network with some of the experienced RAHC nurses. Overall the course helped us understand and review our background knowledge, and gave us the confidence that we need to draw on from this and previous experiences.”