February 2013 - Faculty of Health and Life Sciences - Oxford ...

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A Day in the Lifeof an Air AmbulanceBy Sam Willis, Senior Lecturer in Paramedic Emergency Careinform the pilot and to not assume that thepilot has seen it. Again, if a warning lightshows and the pilot doesn’t appear to haveresponded to it that I should speak up. Thisteam approach clearly addresses humanfactors and strengthens team working,reducing the possibility of nasty incidentsfrom occurring. At this point I was startingto miss the safety of my desk.We only received one call that day but evenso the patient we attended needed help.On arrival a paramedic crew was already onscene and it was a nice surprise to realisethat it was an ex Oxford Brookes Universitystudent.On arrival at the hospital, while handing overto hospital staff, I met another ex-OxfordBrookes university student paramedic aswell as a current student paramedic. Itwas great to see how our teaching hadtranspired into practice.The air ambulance is based at RAF Bensonin Oxfordshire and flies from dusk to dawn.It flies in most weathers, but during severeweather the HEMS crew respond to callsin the Landrover ambulance. The crewusually consists of 2 paramedics and aConsultant who has a speciality in traumaand emergency care. The emergency callsthey attend are of the most serious naturefor example major trauma, cardiac arrestsand drownings.On my observation day I arrived at the RAFbase in time for a 0700 start where I had tosign in and have my photo taken before Iwas even allowed onto the RAF base. I wasthen escorted to the air ambulance site bythe paramedic. The base also houses thepolice helicopter alongside the RAF.As this was my first visit to the site thefirst discussion that took place was aboutsafety. I was told about the procedure of4 Research NewsRachel Decaux (A/E Consultant), Andrew Colledge (Paramedic), Sam WillisOn Friday 14th December 2012 I was given an opportunity tojoin the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance for a shift onthe helicopter. During my career as a lecturer I have always hadan involvement with the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service(HEMS) in one way or the other, usually by taking students to visitthe helipad. This was the first time I was offered the chance towork with the HEMS crew as a paramedic.getting into and out of the helicopter andwas warned of the importance of followingthe rules closely. Even though I did need ahaircut I did not want one that close!I was immediately impressed by the waythe crew respected ‘human factors’ and‘crew resource management’. Theseterms have existed within aviation sincethe 1950s and have recently been taughtin paramedic programmes, including thedegree at Oxford Brookes. They relate tothe ways that humans interact with theirworking environment and recognise theeffects of a unique set of characteristicssuch as fatigue, stress and role conflicton paramedic performance. All of thesecan have life altering consequences for thepatient.The pre-flight safety brief also addressedhuman factors, and I was told that if duringthe flight I saw another aircraft, that I shouldDuring the quiet periods we had anopportunity to identify the equipment andprotocols that HEMS offers that routineambulances do not. For example they useimmobilisation equipment that is lighter andeasier to use, and the drugs they carry suchas Ketamine and other sedatory drugs thatcurrent paramedics don’t yet carry. We alsohad time to have a run through of a practiceimmobilisation on a training manikin.Overall the day was massively beneficialto my own development, not to mention apositive step for the University by promotingthe paramedic programme and increasingawareness of how the programme works,as well as offering an element of studentsupport. I was invited back to do an 0600shift on Saturday but I was craving sleep atthat point.
2 nd Food ConferenceOxford FunctionalThe Functional Food Centrehosted its 2nd InternationalFunctional Food Conference onthe 13th and 14th of November2012. After a successful 1stconference in 2010, it wasdecided to host this eventbiennially.The 2012 conference was jointly hosted forthe second time with the Richardson Centrefor Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals(University of Manitoba) and focussed onthe role of functional foods in helping totackle obesity, diabetes and inflammation.A distinguished assembly of speakers fromthe UK, Europe, USA and Canada includingour very own Dr Lisa Ryan presentedtheir latest research and insights. Theconference received an endorsement forContinuous Professional Development fromthe professional body, the Association forNutrition.The event was well attended and, thisyear, special rates for Oxford Brookesstudents and alumni were introduced. TheFaculty also sponsored 4 places in supportof colleagues’ personal development.Feedback scores from attendees wereexcellent with an average rating of 4.2out of a possible 5 for the speakerpresentations. The majority of respondentsalso rated the conference overall, theprogramme overall and the registrationprocess as excellent. Our Canadiancolleagues were very complimentary aboutthe whole experience.The plenary lecture on day 1 was givenby Dr. Malcolm Kendrick (author of ‘TheGreat Cholesterol Con’). Using his ownexperience of challenging the widelyaccepted belief that cholesterol causesheart disease, he set the scene bychallenging the assembled scientists toaccurately and clearly publish their resultseven when such results contradict currentthinking.Professor Jason Halford (University ofLiverpool and chair of the UK Associationfor the Study of Obesity) in his plenarylecture on day 2 highlighted the complexphysiological and psychological factorsin play in controlling human appetite andthe subsequent issues in research studieswhen trying to prove an effect.Professor Jason HalfordA wide ranging programme considered:• whether evidence currently exists that functional foods can positively impacton appetite and weight management;• the efficacy of natural ingredients in diabetes control;• the use of functional ingredients to modulate the metabolic syndrome (obesity,diabetes, cardiovascular disease etc.);• the role of cell culture models in assessing bioavailability and bioaccessibilityof food ingredients prior to complex and expensive human studies as apotential to improve the achievement of positive outcomes.The development of functional ingredientsand foods is a growth area from both aresearch and a commercial perspective.Taking an idea from concept to the finalproduct requires a great deal of investmentboth from a time and funding perspective.The benefits are only ever finally proven instudies involving human subjects.Different regulatory regimes worldwidehave the ability to either stifle or facilitatesuch innovation yet the evidence suggeststhat benefits at the individual, populationand economic level can be delivered. Thespeed of development will depend on manyeconomic and political factors. This leavesplenty of scope for the Functional FoodCentre to play a pivotal role.There were 2 poster sessions for thepresentation of new and novel research.The prize sponsored by Oxford BrookesUniversity and the University of Manitobafor the best student project was awarded toPeter Wootton-Beard (PhD student in theFunctional Food Centre) by an independentjudging panel. The Innovation Prize donatedby Food and Function was awarded toCaroline Montelius (PhD student from LundUniversity).Peter Wootton-Beard collecting his student prizeThe planning and delivery of the conferenceinvolved all members of the FunctionalFood Centre and many other colleaguesacross the University. Many thanks andmuch praise goes to them for making thisconference such a great success. Wehave already had some post conferencepublicity and we plan more. Two excitingcollaboration opportunities have also arisen.Visit http://www.shs.brookes.ac.uk/research/functional-food/conference forfurther conference highlights.March 2013 5
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February 2013 - Faculty of Health and Life Sciences - Oxford ...

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