Member Training

This list details the courses available to members. It should be noted that whilst courses adhere to national standards, the exact content of each course may vary between counties, so this list details what currently happens in Cambridgeshire. Please also remember that the regulations and practices change from time to time, so exact details of courses will sometimes vary slightly from what is below.

The member training structure is currently undergoing a major overhaul, and is currently a hybrid of the previous system and its successor. The eventual intention is that everybody will have a primary qualification of one of “member”, “first aider”, “advanced first aider”, “patient transport attendant” and “emergency transport attendant”, and that requalification will be by a single examination taken once during each calendar year (like the Essential Care Skills exam, to those for whom this means something!). At the moment this qualification/requalification setup is in place only for the “member”, “patient transport attendant” and “emergency transport attendant” roles. When the practicalities of extending the setup to the other roles have been sorted, we shall let you know what the arrangements will be!

For the time being, what follows pertains to the pre-2007 training/qualification setup.

Except where otherwise noted, requalification of a course for which there is a final examination is by sitting the examination again (i.e. there is not a formal requirement to attend the entire course again); requalification for other courses is by attending the course again.

In Cambridgeshire, the following current qualifications are required for the roles noted:

• Supervised First Aider (i.e. to go on duty):
  • Essential Care Skills
  • Moving and Handling Principles
• Unsupervised First Aider:
  • Essential Care Skills
  • Moving and Handling Principles
  • First Aid at Work
  • Emergency Life Support Child & Infant
  • Moving and Handling Casualties
  • Radio Communications
• SJA Patient Transport Attendant:
  • Patient Transport Attendant (note that this qualification has a number of prerequisites)
• SJA Emergency Transport Attendant:
  • Emergency Transport Attendant (note that this qualification has Patient Transport Attendant as a prerequisite)

Healthcare Professionals are advised to contact the Committee to discuss the rôles they can undertake.

Essential Care Skills

This is the basic competence programme for members. It combines the essential elements of First Aid and Care. Members are assessed annually on the syllabus and must be found to be competent to go on duty. Some other courses if taken in the relevant calendar year confer exemptions from parts of the assessment, but it is generally easier for administrative purposes to take the assessment, which is very short.

First Aid Syllabus

• Incident Management
• Casualty Assessment
• Priorities of First Aid
• Unconsciousness & Recovery Position
• Resuscitation, Control of Major Bleeding
• Recognition and Treatment of Shock.

Additional Elements

• Health and Safety
• Infection Control
• Communication
• Listening skills
• Principal Needs
• Human Rights
• Confidentiality
• Accountability and Responsibility

Radio Communications (4 hours)

This course teaches you how to use a radio within St John Ambulance to relay emergency and non-emergency messages. It covers a number of specific issues related to passing messages by radio.

Syllabus

• Law and Regulations
• Procedure
• The phonetic alphabet
• Codes & useful phrases
• How to use a radio

Moving and Handling Principles

As a St John Ambulance member going out on duty, you may be required to lift equipment. Obviously, there is some risk to your back, which is why all members have to be taught how to lift properly, for sensible and legal reasons. It involves more than you might think! This is a prerequisite for going out “on duty”.

Syllabus

• Regulations of lifting
• Spinal Anatomy & Related Injuries
• Risk Assessment & Risk Reduction
• Basic Rules & Practice
• Planning
• Risk Assessment in the Workplace

First Aid at Work

This course meets the statutory requirements of the Health and Safety Executive regulations for becoming a First Aider in the workplace. It is the core First Aid course for SJA members and is quite comprehensive. All further training builds on what is taught on this course. There is an exam conducted by external examiners and a multiple choice question paper, both of which you need to pass to get the certificate. If you wish to requalify on the shorter course, you must do so within the lifetime of your certificate.

As this course is run commercially, we operate a deposit system to ensure that members who undertake this course are doing so in order to use the skills gained on duty. A copy of this policy can be obtained from the Training Coordinators.

Syllabus

(Days refer to the initial course, spread over four days)

Day One

• Bleeding and bruising – minor
• Burns and scalds – minor
• Casualty movement
• Communication and casualty care
• Emergencies at work
• Fainting
• Primary survey
• Role of the First Aider
• Seizure – minor
• Sprains and strains – minor

Day Two

• Allergic reaction – severe
• Asthma
• Bleeding – severe
• Bone, muscle and joint injuries
• Burns and scalds – severe
• Choking – adult
• Eye injury
• Head injury
• Low blood sugar
• Seizure – convulsive
• Shock

Day Three

• Abdominal pain
• Chest pains
• CPR – adult
• Poisons, gases and fumes
• Rescue breathing – adult
• Unconscious casualty

Day Four

• Summative practice
• Summative assessment and feedback on performance

Emergency Life Support Child & Infant

The resuscitation protocols generally taught in First Aid courses are recommended only for people aged eight and over. This course covers First Aid specific for babies (aged 0 to 1) and children (aged 1 to 7) or children of that size.

Syllabus

• Incident Management
• Casualty Management
• Initial Assessment of Casualty
• Baby/Child Resuscitation
• Choking
• Croup

Moving and Handling Casualties

This covers the theory and skills needed to move casualties during ambulance work or on First Aid duties, particularly those in a trauma situation.

Syllabus

• Safe manual handling techniques
• Ambulance carry chair
• Pole and canvas stretchers
• Carry sheet
• Furley stretcher
• Orthopaedic scoop stretcher
• Ambulance trolleys (Pioneer and Falcon)
• Wheelchair

Moving and Handling People

This covers the theory and skills needed to move a patient in a ‘care’ situation (such as at home or in a hospital). This course involves the use of several novel pieces of equipment.

Syllabus

• Assisting mobile people
• Assisting people in beds
• Assisting people in chairs
• Handling aids
• Risk assessment

AED

CPR attempts to keep the heart and brain tissues alive by circulating oxygen to them. It rarely results in restarting the heart. Defibrillators discharge a pulse of electricity through the heart and can restart it making them a truly lifesaving piece of equipment. This course trains members to use semi-automatic defibrillators, AEDs, in situations of cardiac arrest.

Syllabus

• Incident management
• Research into CPR & defibrillation
• Basic anatomy and physiology of the heart
• Practical Introduction to AED and use of AED protocols

Medical Gas Administration

This course covers how and when to use oxygen, suction and oropharyngeal airways. In Cambridgeshire, the course does not cover Entonox administration (which is covered on the Emergency Ambulance Attendant Completion Module) or use of bag/valve/mask.

Syllabus

• Safety and storage of cylinders
• Oxygen therapy
• Oxygen as an adjunct to resuscitation

Fundamental Care

The course develops a base line of underpinning knowledge and skills in care for public duty. From a First Aid perspective, it is particularly relevant to the care of the long term casualty.

Student healthcare professionals should contact the Training Coordinator about accreditation of prior learning for this course

Syllabus

• Acute and chronic ill health
• Body image
• Care of a person in a bed
• Chest disease
• Communications
• Confidentiality, accountability, responsibility
• Elimination
• Grief
• Health and safety
• Human rights
• Hygiene
• Infection control
• Key positions
• Maintaining health
• Medication
• Mental health
• Mobility
• Moving and handling people
• Planning care
• Principal needs
• Safe food handling
• Support bandaging
• Vital signs
• Wound care

Ambulance Aid

Cambridgeshire has now adopted the training for the new (2006) national St John Ambulance Patient Transport Attendant (Ambulance Aid 1) and Emergency Transport Attendant (Ambulance Aid 2) courses.

These courses result in the qualifications required for crewing St John Ambulances. The standard is high, and it is necessary for the Chair to say that a candidate is suitable for the course before the candidate is allowed on the course. Within Cambridge LINKS, the decision regarding suitability is ultimately taken by the Committee, with regard to the views of the Chair and the member responsible for arranging extended training. The Committee member responsible for arranging extended training is more than happy to speak to any member considering undertaking these courses, in order to discuss the formal prerequisites and the experience necessary.

SJA Patient Transport Attendant

This course is aimed at the scenario of transporting by ambulance a patient whose condition is stable (typically chronic) and not expected to deteriorate. For example, an inter-hospital transfer may fall into such a category. On its own, the qualification usually will not allow you to crew an ambulance on a duty, although the skills gained can be useful on duty. There is a strong emphasis on good patient/casualty handling. The course also covers the administration of Entonox (analgesic gas).

The course is now being run entirely separately from the Emergency Transport Attendant course, and successful completion of this course to a high standard is a prerequisite for attendance on the Emergency Transport Attendant course.

If you are thinking of doing this course, you should contact the Committee well in advance to discuss this (not least so that it can be ensured that you will receive the prerequisite training!).

Syllabus

• Moving and handling of patients/casualties
• Medical Gases, particularly use of Entonox
• Patients with chronic conditions

It is possible to gain exemption from attending relevant parts of the course if one already has certificates in Moving and Handling People, Moving and Handling Casualties or Medical Gas Administration, although it is still advised that one attend these sections of the course unless one has a good reason to be absent.

SJA Emergency Transport Attendant

This covers the competencies needed to provide accident and emergency care inside and outside of an ambulance. It is an advanced First Aid course with a rigorous examination at the end, and in addition to the time commitment for formal instruction, candidates should expect to put in extra practice time. Experience of doing First Aid for real is essential, and the duty hours requirement should be seen as a minimum (note: these hours are the sort of time one might spend on duty if one took a good number of the duty opportunities available over a summer).

If you are thinking of doing this course, you should contact the Committee well in advance to discuss this (not least so that it can be ensured that you will receive the prerequisite training!).

Syllabus

• Patient Assessment:
  • Extended primary survey
  • Taking of observations (blood pressure, oximetry, chest auscultation and palpation)
  • Patient assessment scenarios
• Fracture management
• Use of ambulance trolleys
• Spinal immobilisation: cervical collars, rescue board, scoop, KED
• Head and chest trauma
• Trauma and medical scenarios
• Paediatrics
• Maternity
• Assisting the paramedic

Successful completion of this course additionally results in re-certification in the following:

• Essential Care Skills
• Moving and Handling Principles
• Emergency Life Support Child & Infant
• Moving and Handling Casualties
• Radio Communications
• Moving and Handling People
• AED
• Medical Gas Administration
• Fundamental Care, subject to the successful completion of the Care written paper within an advised time after the course
• Patient Transport Attendant

Duty Manager

For every public event covered by St John Ambulance, a Duty Manager is designated. Whilst for small events this may be a relatively informal designation, at larger events the Duty Manager's rôle is far more specialised, and the Duty Manager tends not to become involved in treatment of casualties. This course is aimed at allowing participants to fulfil this specialised rôle as well as improving duty management on smaller duties.

Syllabus

• Role and responsibilities of a duty manager
• Planning
• Safety
• Implementing the duty plan
• Giving a duty briefing
• The aftermath of the duty

Risk Assessment

Risk assessment is the process of identifying potential problems and deciding how important they are and what steps should be taken to minimise their impact. It is particularly relevant for those taking responsibility for other members on duty or organising duties.

Syllabus

• Health and safety legislation in relation to risk assessment
• The need for risk assessment
• Identification of hazards
• Association of risks with identified hazards
• Recording and reviewing risk assessments
• Performing sample risk assessments

Cycle Responder Training - National Level 3

St John Ambulance operates specialised responder bicycles. This course includes the national cycle level 3 certificate, as well as an induction to local procedures for using the bicycles. The level 3 training ensures that you are able to be a responsible road user. Being a cycle first aider requires both cycling and first aid, so unsurprisingly you need to be able to do first aid before being allowed to cycle with St John Ambulance!

Driver Training

It is a national requirement (for insurance reasons) that in order to drive any St John Ambulance vehicle (including ambulances), you must have a minimum have attained the silver standard in the RoSPA Advanced Driving Association test. Training for this involves theory and practical sessions. (The IAM advanced driving test is acceptable under some circumstances, but training is not offered for this.)

If you are interested in undertaking this training, you should contact the Committee.

There is a separate requirement for driving under emergency conditions.

You must hold a DVLA C1 licence to drive a vehicle weighing over 3.5 tonnes.

More information about the national driving policy may be found on the relevant page of the national members' website.

Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL)

APL allows recognition of previously gained knowledge, skills and experience in a particular area. Where it is indicated that APL is allowed, it is possible for somebody with the appropriate background to be excused from attending the course. It is still necessary to attend the assessment and any relevant continuous development is still required. Where prior learning is accredited, the qualification can be awarded on successful completion of the examination.

If you think it is likely to be possible to accredit your prior learning in some area towards some course, you are advised to contact the Committee. For accreditation of courses outside St John Ambulance, you will normally need the course certificate and an official copy of the course syllabus.