MEDICAL staff based at Stawell and Ararat have boosted their emergency response skills.
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Ballarat Health Services hosted Saturday’s emergency skills workshop in Ararat.
Melissa White, clinical nurse educator and EMET (Emergency Medicine Education & Training) program support officer, said the workshop was part of a focus on supporting the region’s health services to improve clinical capability, in order to enhance care available to communities closer to home.
General practitioners and junior medical staff rotated through four stations to cover a wide range of procedural and resuscitation skills – including management of burns and advanced life care.
It also provided GPs with a chance to build face-to-face relationships with emergency department staff they often sought advice from via phone.
Emergency physicians, nursing educators and plaster technicians led the workshops.
Ms White said the workshop was the first of its kind.
“It was more hands-on and for local people,” she said.
“We are interested in having GPs being able to deal with emergencies locally.
“We ran the workshop but we have gotten feedback from the workshop in Ararat about what other schools medical practitioners would like to learn about.”
Ms White said the program was made possible through a partnership with Primary Health Network locally and funding from the Australian College for Emergency Medicine that supports the EMET program run by the Ballarat Health Services Emergency Department.