Who?
The Dartmoor Search & Rescue Team based in Ashburton is part of the Dartmoor Rescue Group, helping those in need and saving lives on Dartmoor and across Devon.
Why?
An existing relationship already exists between Dartmoor Search & Rescue and Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, with clinicians at the Trust assisting with medical aspects of the local search team’s training programmes.
Their training programme is seasonal as there are certain conditions that make it impossible for training to be held on location. Water training can’t happen when river levels are low but when the weather is bad, being out on the moor is actually better for training.
Richard Walker, one of Dartmoor Search & Rescue (Ashburton) team’s doctors says, ‘We have had some invaluable input from the clinical teams at Torbay Hospital and being introduced to the Trust’s latest initiative Health and Care Videos, we thought that it would be a beneficial asset to include within our training resources. With limited training time, resources and weather conditions, we felt training videos would be a very effective way for members to refresh their memory of teaching on some of the more complex procedures and to capture and standardise local practices’.
What?
Their journey into using this form of media started with commissioning 3 pilot videos that would supplement training on how to use specific medical equipment; ‘How to use a femeral traction splint’ and performing procedures; ‘How to perform an urgent fracture reduction’ and ‘How to perform a needle decompression of tension pneumothorax’. Filming for the video footage was done in the Horizon Centre at Torbay Hospital.
These 3 videos were shown to the Medical Officer of Mountain Rescue England & Wales ( the umbrella organisation for mountain rescue and cave rescue in England and Wales) because they were in the process of updating the syllabus, examination and teaching resources for the Mountain Rescue first aid qualification (Casualty Care) and wanted to create a video library as a part of this
5 pilot videos were commissioned by MREW to demonstrate the feasibility of this and to test the concept of building a wider range of short videos to support teaching across the country. The videos will be included within their online training platform and plans are underway to obtain funding that will enable the production of further videos.
Feedback
‘It was a great experience working with the Health and Care Video film crew. They are easy to do business with and are a receptive and professional outfit’. Richard Walker, Doctor, Dartmoor Search & Rescue (Ashburton)
