Transfer Yourself Beyond The MOOC…

We’re thrilled you’ve completed this course in transfer medicine, and if you’re looking for the next step on the path take a look below. Dr Patrick A. Ward (Consultant Anaesthetist, St John’s Hospital, Livingston, UK) explains some of the routes available to develop your expertise in this emerging field.

• Transfer teams are almost always multidisciplinary in composition, with significant variation in minimum training requirements, skill-mix within teams, and training backgrounds/qualifications of those conducting patient transfers worldwide.

Please check out the world map if you’re interested in more details.

• Various professional bodies worldwide have implemented training modules as part of their curricula, some mandatory and some optional/voluntary.
• A number of courses and professional qualifications exist in this area, supplemented by recognised international fellowships that have well-established training programmes. Whilst not an exhaustive list, this article outlines some of the existing training requirements, opportunities, and resources if you’re looking to go further.

• Here’s a non-exhaustive list of UK courses relevant to transfer medicine.

Professional Examinations & Qualifications

• The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh offers a Diploma in Retrieval & Transfer Medicine (DRTM) which is a stand-alone examination, open to doctors, nurses and paramedics with relevant retrieval experience. Applicants must have undertaken at least 12 months part-time/6 months full-time experience in prehospital and/or retrieval medicine, including the transfer of critically ill patients.

Fellowships & Other Experiences

• A number of well recognised and established national and international fellowships offer specialist training.
• These include highly competitive secondments to regional Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) within the UK and internationally, and are available to trainees (forming part of their training) or post-CCT applicants (as stand-alone posts), dependent upon the individual commitments of the applicant and the particular requirements of the service.
• The training is highly structured, often incorporating a short intensive period of lectures and simulation drills/scenarios, followed by heavily supervised hands-on retrieval experience. This is allied with continual assessment, until the necessary competence level has been reached for independent practice.
• Relevant experience can also be sought through a variety of other fellowships, for example – paediatric critical care transfer, extracorporeal life support, extreme/wilderness/mountain medicine etc.
• Observer roles with local ambulance services, and event medicine experience at sporting venues/competitions can also provide useful exposure to transfer and pre-hospital medicine.

In Conclusion…

• Transfer medicine is a medical specialty that is gaining wider recognition, with a greater appreciation that the specific skills and knowledge required to conduct a safe transfer of critically ill patients requires dedicated specialist training.
• Nevertheless, it remains a significant challenge for medical, nursing and paramedic professional governing bodies worldwide to ensure that those personnel are adequately trained. This is only the beginning of the journey!

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