Outdoor First Aid, Course 1, Day 2

A great day today in lots of ways.
So first things first - well done to the trainees- everyone passed!
I saw some strong skills, a good understanding of Protect, Preserve, Prevent and Promote* and a real understanding of how to implement both in a potentially hazardous outdoor environment. Strong exam results backed up my observations and I had no hesitation in passing them all. I'd be pleased if any of them were the first on scene if it's me lying at the bottom of the Crag.

So we had a good practical recap first thing and then, in stunning conditions headed up Stanah Ghyll. As you'd expect today got more complex, if you've fallen off a cliff there's seldom only one thing wrong. So we covered Scene Survey with real and projected dangers. We emergency moved various casualties, we protected our groups, we did a lot of improvising. I gave them a lot of options at Base - but if you didn't have it on the hill then you needed to work it out. We finished with a group evacuation, 200m up hill, through rocks and down a steep slope- easy as a team impossible on your own. I didn't even need to tell them to assign roles :-)

The afternoon has a lot of mandatory items to whizz through. I added some games and tried to make it interactive, even managed a couple of funny videos (who doesn't enjoy watching an idiot get given his comeuppance from the Adder he's taunting...), but I think I'll revisit this part of my sessions and see if I can enliven them. Everyone loved the pickled ticks though, especially the one the size of a fingernail!

All in all very pleased with how it went. Took more pics, refined a lot, know I'm comfortable with what I teach and how I teach it... But also found some areas for improvement. A great two days.

*As well as DR-ABC, SAMPLE, AVPU, OPQRST, PRICE, METHANE, PLASTIC & PEEP
First Aid seems to really really really like its acronyms and mnemonics!!!