West Michigan Air Care (WMAC) has sustained a robust educational program over the years, both internally as well as extensions to our community in the way of training and outreach. The framework for the training standard was developed at inception of the program, but it has evolved over the years. Driving this education at WMAC is the Clinical Educator, which is a role that has always been paramount in setting the standard for training and developing the medical crew to be prepared for all types of patients.
Flight nurse, Paul Rigby, has been the Clinical Educator since December, 2017 and oversees the planning and implementation of the medical crew education that focuses on four main areas: Adult Critical Care, High Risk Obstetrics, Pediatric Critical Care and Trauma and Emergency Care. The topic rotates every three months and includes hands-on practical application of skills from ventilator management to surgical skills, such as chest tubes and cricothyrotomy; case reviews in collaboration with physicians from Bronson Methodist Hospital and Ascension Borgess Health; pertinent lectures on applicable topics; and simulation lab training at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine's state of the art facility located in downtown Kalamazoo.
The crew undergoes extensive didactic instruction pertaining to outlined quarterly educational objectives. Once this information is given to the medical crew, cases pertaining to the objectives are reviewed. Protocols that guide our treatment, as well as current literature, is compared to make certain that the care we are bringing the communities is best practice and evidence based. To complete each quarter every crewmember completes several high-fidelity simulations to evaluate the retention of the training and also practice the newly developed protocols before signing them into practice.
Co-Written by Sara Sturgeon
Flight Nurse
West Michigan Air Care
Co-Written by Paul Rigby
Flight Nurse
West Michigan Air Care