Fall 2015 Outdoor Emergency Care Course

This site covers the National Ski Patrol's Outdoor Emergency Care (OEC) training course that's held in the San Francisco South Bay area each Fall. Details on registration, materials, preparation and location are located on the tabs above. Course updates are posted below as they are published.

Outdoor Emergency Care® is the National Ski Patrol’s award-winning training program for patrollers and others in the recreation community who deal with emergency situations. This nationally recognized program is designed to help you manage the toughest emergencies, in all seasons. Developed in the late 1980s for the 26,000 members of the National Ski Patrol, Outdoor Emergency Care is a training program that is tailored to the nonurban rescuer. Today, OEC is considered the standard of training for emergency care in the outdoor environment and is recognized by resorts and recreational facilities in all 50 states.

Thursday, October 25, 2018

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Training Objectives Now

Three weeks to the practical final exam.  Our objective now is to practice & hone skills - just like in athletics - to peak for the big game.  

As we discussed in class, here are some focal points to incorporate in your thinking, training & practice.  




Pediatric Assessment & Treatment


Big thanks to Maureen for a great lecture on pediatric assessment & treatment.  Her slides are uploaded to the GoogleDrive.











In addition, here's an interesting supplemental article that's both interesting & useful.

Link here.

Mass Casualty Simulation Night - Nov 1 - Need Volunteers

The culmination of our class, mass casualty night, has proven to be the most engaging, most instructive, and probably the most fun class of the entire course.  Great fun for patroller candidates & volunteers alike.

What's Mass Casualty Night?

We simulate an event where we have multiple patients in need of care.  Each patient acts out a unique injury.  It's up to the patroller candidates to assess each patient and then provide the appropriate care by themselves or by leading a team to do so.   Pictures from previous year's event below.

Why is it unique?

The event is unique in that it requires the candidates to bring to bear all the skills they've learned in class, and do so in a stressful environment that we create.  It's also a great opportunity for friends, family and others interested to see what this Outdoor Emergency Care is all about.

We need your help

To make this happen, we need a large number of volunteers.  This year, we're looking for around 40.  Young and old, we want and welcome all.  We'll provide you some coaching on your "injury".  In some cases, we'll also apply some moulage to better simulate the injury.   And you'll get to act it out as you like, being as high or low maintenance as you like to your patroller-rescuer and their team.

Location

This year, our Mass Causality Simulation will take place at our usual class location: Novo Construction @ 1460 O'Brien Dr, Menlo Park, CA 94025     GoogleMaps location here: https://oecsouthbay.blogspot.com/p/corse-location.html

How to Sign-up

If you're joining us, please sign-up.  To do so, click on the link below and go to November 1.  Sign up as a "MCI Night Patient Volunteer".  https://teamup.com/ksbbcadac8c015e175

No doubt this year will once again prove to be very instructive to candidates, and very fun for the volunteers.  Thanks in advance for your support.








Sunday, October 21, 2018

Heart Attack - Men vs Women's Symptoms

Repost from 2014:

In class last week, we touched on heart attacks, and touched on the different symptoms male/female.  Thanks to Mike Nealon who pointed out this instructive article on the topic.  Thanks Mike.

Link here.

Friday, October 19, 2018

A Short Film on a Hypothermia Case

A short film from the BBC on a hypothermia case in Norway.

As the saying goes - "A hypothermia patient isn't dead until they are warm and dead".

Link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLr15BBBtrc&feature=youtu.be

Friday, October 12, 2018

Observations & Tips from the Midterm

As we discussed in class.  Overall, great job.  Here are some commonalities and tune-up tips:





Wednesday, October 10, 2018

SMR/Backboard One-Pager

Team -

John Wiser has put together a great one-pager on SMR/Backboard process.

Download your version here.

Big thanks to John for his leadership in putting this together.

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Monday, October 8, 2018

Written Final Exam Prep

It's time to start studying for the final written exam.  Here are tools which may be helpful:

- The test bank questions, sorted by OEC V book chapters, is at:  OEC V Chapter Tests  Answers to each question are located at the end of each question listing.

-  Also included are the actual final exams for several past years.  Same link: OEC V Chapter Tests  

- Finally, one of a the past Southbay candidates used the Quizlet application to create a set of flashcards containing the questions & answers.  It can be found at http://quizlet.com/29785932/flashcards  Accessible via laptop browser, or mobile using the iPhone & Andriod app.  Once you access/install, if you search for "OEC Final 2013" you should be able to get to them.  Also -- when studying, if you click on the "Shuffle" button, it'll mix them up.

Congrats on a Great Midterm & Backboard Sunday!

Big congratulations to the candidates for making it through a grueling weekend. And a big thanks to the patrollers who helped out!  Good days, good lessons learned, great tools for the future. 

Good day & good learnings at the Saturday midterm.  As we discussed, the exams are based on previous year's final practical exams.  Now you have a good sense of where you are and where you personally, and the class as a group, need to focus moving foward.

And a productive Backboard Sunday - at the beginning of the day, you hadn't laid a hand on a backboard.  Now you can put a patient on a backboard - from each position to leading a team to do so - in a broad variety of situations. 

Now we move foward to learn a couple more skills, then more complicated scenarios, then ramp up for the final exams!

More pics in the class photo album here.





















Sunday, October 7, 2018

Special Guest Speaker This Thursday

As I mentioned in class, I am thrilled that Dr. Jeff Croke will be our guest speaker Thursday, Oct 11.  

As you can see, Jeff is a highly accomplished physician AND ski patrolman.  Jeff has prepared some remarks for us, and then will take questions.  

Give some thought to questions you'd like to ask e.g. What the docs in the first aid/clinics want to hear from patrollers delivering patients from the field, key things patrollers can do in the field to improve patient care, etc.

Backboard & Stretcher Fails - Don't Do This...



Youtube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfbbEzxNBnY