LifeFlight’s newest cohort of critical care doctors have taken to the skies to deliver life-saving aeromedical care across Queensland.
The 29-strong group recently underwent a week of intensive aeromedical training at the LifeFlight Training Academy at Brisbane Airport to prepare for their new roles.
The doctors have headed to work in regions and cities around Queensland including Wide Bay Burnett, Toowoomba, Sunshine Coast and Brisbane.
Doctor Maria Brønstad came from Norway to trade the snow-swept mountains of her native land for Townsville’s hot climate.
She said she was looking forward to the challenge and had brought her family over from Norway to live in Townsville while she works at LifeFlight.
“I really wanted to work at LifeFlight as it’s a renowned company with great professionals,” she said.
“I’m looking forward to learning new skills, meeting new people, and getting some new perspectives.”
Dr Brønstad said the Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET) training alongside water survival skills was “amazing”.
“The HUET really increased my understanding of the evacuation from a helicopter and after doing it my confidence of working in the helicopter has really strengthened,” she said.
Doctor Tim Case joined the Sunshine Coast base after a varied career which included working in military pre-hospital emergency care in the UK.
Dr Case, who enjoys diving, caving, skiing, and mountain biking, thrived on the testing nature of aeromedicine.
“I really loved the challenge of starting your day with no idea what you were going to do and then having to problem solve on the fly to get a patient out of a tricky situation,” Dr Case said.
“You are still doing the same medicine, but you are doing it in a completely different environment. It’s at the side of the road, in a rural hospital – you never know what’s going to happen day-to-day.”
Doctor Emma Cooper, who has started work at the Toowoomba and Roma bases, was inspired to join LifeFlight after seeing the professionalism of the LifeFlight aeromedical teams when she was a medical intern in south west Queensland.
“I was in Roma as an intern, and I remember LifeFlight crews coming to pick up our patients,” Dr Cooper said.
“Queensland is such a huge state, and I’ve sat with patients and our retrieval services are really the lynchpin to get these patients to the tertiary care that they need and deserve.”
LifeFlight HUET Manager Mick Dowling said the rigorous training doctors experienced was part of what attracted doctors to LifeFlight.
“The doctor training that we provide is very competitive, so we get a lot of doctors applying because of the standard of training that they’re receiving from industry experts,” he said.
He said the HUET training was particularly challenging for doctors but was a test many relished.
“When we get the doctors first in for this training, they’re all a little bit nervous and anxious because it’s a situation they haven’t been put into previously,” he said.
“But we’ve got a softly, softly approach that we take to get them through this training and it can be quite challenging.
“It’s great watching them build confidence. They are always willing to jump in and get it done and then they’re moving on to help us out in the community with regard to their doctor skillsets.”
The intensive aeromedical academic and practical training program also included rescue winching and challenging clinical scenarios to ensure the doctors are fully prepared.
LifeFlight Medical Director Dr Jeff Hooper said doctors were prepared for a range of situations they may face in the field such as treating people injured by animals in a paddock or roadside following a motor vehicle crash.
“These are austere environments and are very different to what they are used to in the hospital system,” Dr Hooper said.
“We find that the training that we do is really intense, it’s very realistic and it means that the doctors are really ready to go for any challenge they may face in the job.”
LifeFlight is the largest employer of aeromedical doctors in the country with more than 180 medical professionals.
All doctors go through simulated scenarios at the Queensland Combined Emergency Services Academy where they put their clinical skills into practice.
LifeFlight helped 8,497 Queenslanders in the past financial year – 3.9 per cent higher than the previous year.
The majority of LifeFlight critical care doctors’ work is performed on behalf of Queensland Health, tasked by Retrieval Services Queensland, within Queensland Ambulance Service.
