--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE BEAT The e-zine for health, safety, and EMS instructors and coordinators --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 1 Issue 6 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this issue: HAPPY THANKSGIVING! COMFORT - The ultimate skill in an emergency situation - By John Mateus HELP WANTED COOL SITE --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Our warmest holiday wishes for those of you celebrating thanksgiving this week. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DID YOU KNOW? The American Safety & Health Institute has a family of nationally accredited emergency care programs with costs far below some of the other major national organizations. Most trainings can be conducted for less than $4.00 per participant (including manuals). Instructor reciprocity available - check it out at http://www.LessStress.com/iashi.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- COMFORT - The ultimate skill in an emergency situation I love teaching instructor development sessions. There is something fascinating about making new presenters understand all of the fine subtleties of teaching CPR and first aid. Rookie instructors are often well meaning - they want to make their students understand and excel in the skills necessary to handle an emergency. They explain, demonstrate, and rationalize in the hope that students will use the techniques during an emergency. What the average new instructor does not always understand, and what is often learned in time, is that much of what we do is teach CONFIDENCE. In addition to making sure a participant has adequate skills, as instructors it is important to enable the participant in an emergency. Lack of intervention is often not caused by poor knowledge or technique, but because of a lack of initiative or comfort in the procedures. How does one teach comfort? It isn't always easy, but there are a few tools an instructor can use to make the student more familiar with the situation and make them more likely to act: a) INFORMATION - Lectures, slide shows, and videos are presentation formats that can give participants familiarity with the material at hand. This is the most traditional teaching episode. Although by itself it is unlikely to produce an effective provider, it is important to remember that people will never be comfortable dealing with a problem they do not understand. Having background is an important element of building skill. b) TECHNIQUE - These are the "do's and don'ts" of CPR/First Aid. We deal with all the 'allowed' interventions, as well as the procedures we would rather not see (but everyone does on TV). While this portion of teaching is important, one should not get so involved in this instruction that he/she neglects the next teaching intervention. c) EXERCISE - Fluency in any skill is obtained not from seeing it on a screen or slide set, but rather by experiencing it's dynamics in action. In the absence of real clinical patients, we can still do this to some extent with simulations, scenarios, and role-playing. It is here, through the management of artificial emergencies, that students will (hopefully) gain the courage and comfort to deal with the real one. It is important to realize that simple use of the above techniques is not enough. As instructors we must give students the belief that they can affect the patient is a good way. For this, we use positive feedback, gentle correction, and ample praise during the above techniques. The ability to perform this affective domain teaching is at the core of teaching emergency care. It separates the veteran instructor from the neophyte. The warm, bold sensation a brand new parent has when they know they can manage their newborn infant if he chokes doesn't come from a video, it comes from the person in front of the class... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HELP WANTED! This newsletter is not free - it's price is that you pass on a good hint or tip about EMS, health, or safety training to the subscribers on the list. E-mail your stuff to jmateus@lessstress.com We're also looking for regular columnists - if you have something to say - e-mail us! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW STUFF ON THE LESS STRESS SITE! Individual CPR Prompt Manikins have been added to the on-line store! You can now have your own set of professional-grade manikins for less than $100.00. Great for those last-minute renewals! Have a look at http://www.LessStress.com/imani.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- COOL SITE For this week's cool site, we chose The San Diego Paramedic's 12 Lead Page. It is a tremendously detailed tutorial of pre-hospital 12 lead ECG's. It also has some observations and studies of San Diego's 12 lead program. If you hate "The Octopus" that's sticking out of your monitor, this site offers some pretty convincing arguments as to why you should be more familiar with it. Have a look: http://www.publicsafetynet.net/12lead.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INFANT CPR SIMULATOR CD-ROM The Infant CPR Simulator CD-ROM is currently under development. We hope to have it out before the end of the year. If anyone has some suggestions, we are open to specific scenario recommendations, safety concerns, or good self test-questions. If we use your exact scenario, you might win yourself a free copy! E-mail us at jmateus@lessstress.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------