“Training as you are going to fight” is one of the mottos we heard during the REEC2021: the European NAEMT instructors meeting.
Turin – Do your training day as you’re going on the battlefield, create a scenario as realistic as possible, and base all your teaching on your working experience. These three pillars hold the secret of the NAEMT instructor. The National Association of EMTs produces protocols that are still the base for teaching our rescuers how to improve their approach to patients. The annual meetings are the occasion to continue refining the methods used to manage complex cases.
The REEC is the reunion of the European trainers. They achieved three main objectives:
- Giving universal examples to all educational centers to improve the training activity;
- Evaluate learning procedures to collect training and develop new experiences;
- Learn more about rescue figures around Europe, such as the excellent example of what NAEMT is doing in Albania for the new national 112;
As realistic as you can: training must be an unforgettable experience
David Page, NAEMT faculty member and director of pre-hospital care research at UCLA University, explains the principles of NAEMT. “Research is one of the best tools to demonstrate that better education can save more lives. And this is what we are doing with NAEMT. Some studies, mainly done in Mexico, show how PHTLS education increases the survival rate in the communities. So we have to tie our education to patient outcomes. And absolutely, it has been done, and we can do it again”.
REEC has been the Page’s first time in Italy. The NAEMT director visited the 118 Dispatch Center in Turin, with the NAEMT Italia President, Alberto Adduci, and the director of the Center, Mario Raviolo.
“It was fantastic to see such professionalism at a time of pandemic crisis. Worldwide, everyone had to come together and deal with the surge of so many patients. I saw incredible people with attitude and great skills, and intelligence to know which resources to send to which types of emergencies. A mixture of the old and the new dispatch solutions. It was such an honor to learn from your system”.
A model of a European, complete, and critical approach
The REEC has faced several innovations that can be developed during the 2022 courses. In particular, the increasing demand for tactical skills was discussed, with additions of concepts taken from the TCCC and added to the courses for civilians, and with the introduction of critical thinking stations. “I think the essential addition of critical-thinking stations is agreeable to complete the current training models” Dr. Aurora Guglielmetti said. “The critical thinking station is a crucial moment, in which it is needed to direct and explain how to carry out a rescue without doing it in real-time. Of course, evaluating the usage of these stations is complex. Still, it completes the steps towards practical activity s a realistic Evaluatingvel of emotional stress, where the determining factor is often time “.
In 2022, new NAEMT courses and many countries involved
“Satisfied? This REEC is an incredible success – explains Alberto Adduci, president of NAEMT Italia – because we met again after two years. As always, during the REEC, there is a lot of discussion inside and outside the educational sessions. It is fascinating to understand how the characteristics of NAEMT courses are expressed, from PHTLS to other protocols like AMLS, GEMS, or for pediatric patients, EPC. NAEMT – continues Adduci – always tries to provide all countries with maximum support. Our goal is to guarantee everywhere the same level of training, for different kinds of students. Whether it is an American paramedic, an Italian critical area nurse, or a Cypriot first responder, the goal is to allow everyone to do the best possible for the patient’s health. And – I think – this guarantees in every event a powerful motivation. Every instructor who participates in the refreshes wants to create the best educational pathway”.
