Nurse with voluntary services

fuddy1

I have recently began volunteering with a voluntary emergency services org. Just wondering does anyone know where I stand as regards using my nursing qualifications in a voluntary capacity in the community. Is there a way I register with PHECC or do I have to start from CFR level first aid course and work my way up? Have got a lot of conflicting and vague responses when asking in the Org. Any nurses out there been in the same situation and could share their experiences?

Mycroft H

What Org are you working with?

I know OMAC have a regional nursing officer whom would be able to tell you your remit of practice.

fuddy1

Am with CD.
Have emailed phecc to see if they have any info for me. Would love to see if any nurses/volunteers out there can shed any light on this.

miju

AFAIK your qaulification is not a pre hospital qualification so you need to do CFR , EFR , EMT.Had three nurses on my EMT course doing just that as it's a different skill set pre hospital

civdef

In pre-PHECC times, a registered nurse was considered to be qualified as a casualty instructor. This has changed now, and there is no longer automatic recognition. There is an recognised prior learning process though, so you could look into seeing if your training and qualifications could be matched across to PHECC quals. The PHECC education and training standard would be a good place to start.

I'm not sure what the rules are regarding scope of practice, if you were to provide any treatment outside the scope of CD recognised qualifications you'd probably be relying on your own insurance cover. You'd probably be best off to have a chat with your CDO.

fuddy1

yep have spoken to CDO and they aint too sure either. They've broached Roscrea with the question and are still waiting to hear back from them. No reply from phecc yet either.

TylerIE

CD has quite a few nurses.

You will need to do CFR etc - but if you work in a hospital you should be able to do an extra half hour on your IHF BLS recertification to get your CFR card, rather than doing the whole day again.

However if you get to EMT level you shouldnt have to worry about the clinicials - notwithstanding that any nurse I know in CD who got the opportunity to do their clinicals with a HSE ambulance would have taken it.

If you have some prehospital experience your CDO may consider nominating you for the next EMT course rather than you working your way through the ranks. Most Nurses I know in CD and in OMAC have done the EMT just like any other member - with the exception of clinicals. Many of them take pride in it being a seperate course with seperate skills.

civdef

In fairness though, there is very little in the EMT course that a nurse shouldn't be well familiar with. At significant portion of the course is very basic anatomy and physiology, along with straightforward basic clinical skills.

Whilst there would be aspects of the course a nurse probably would need to do, I would question the need for them to do the whole course. This is what RPL policies are there for.

miju

Nurse summed it up perfectly for me. She could take someone off a spinal board no probs, however putting them on one is a different process.

They are different but complimentary skill sets

civdef

I agree. I'd guess somewhere around a week to ten days of classroom work would cover the skill gaps.
I'd still contend that the other 2.5 to 3 weeks of content are duplicated.

First Aid Ireland

fuddy1 wrote: »

I have recently began volunteering with a voluntary emergency services org. Just wondering does anyone know where I stand as regards using my nursing qualifications in a voluntary capacity in the community. Is there a way I register with PHECC or do I have to start from CFR level first aid course and work my way up? Have got a lot of conflicting and vague responses when asking in the Org. Any nurses out there been in the same situation and could share their experiences?

Go straight to the nursing officer. I had this conversation with one of the vols about me being a doctor, and it took a long time to work it's way up the chain from branch level to medical officer. But once you speak to the right people they'll tell you straight away what you can and can't do.

Good luck!

EDIT: Just to add....make sure you're comfortable with pre-hospital emergencies before you put yourself in the position where you're the "go to" person at a duty. If you have a lot of clinical experience, you'll be grand. But the practical equipment can always trip you up if you're not used to it (scoop stretchers, collars, how to use the entonox/oxygen etc) and people will look to you for help with it.

Doing an EMT course (or part of one) will be pretty straightforward for you if you're a qualified nurse, and would probably be very worthwhile in making you a well rounded practitioner.

kynasmith

Nursing is a career with lots of responsibilities and respect. If you are adopting this as a career then you have to be passionate about caring someone. You have to learn all the thing about elders because elder care is seems easy but it is not at all true.

STANDCLEAR!!!

I believe phecc are developing a stand alone level for rgn's and docs that want to act in the pre hospital environment.

fuddy1

That would be great. Would love to have my own recognised level of skill while working my up the first aid ladder

Kwekubo

STANDCLEAR!!! wrote: »

I believe phecc are developing a stand alone level for rgn's and docs that want to act in the pre hospital environment.

Last I heard, this project had been shelved, but the intention was to develop a seventh set of CPGs specifically for medical practitioners in four streams: Event Medical Officer, Site Medical Officer, Pre-Hospital Doctor and Remote Medical Doctor. There are no plans to develop a set of CPGs for nurses, though.