Australasian College of Paramedicine International Conference (ACPIC23)

ACPIC 2023 delivered a wide range of clinical and research sessions from experts and leaders in paramedicine. Hosted in Melbourne (September 2023) the program was designed to inspire, educate and broaden horizons.

Conference theme: Lead - Evolve - Impact

The Burn-injured patient – common presentations and management

The majority of burn presentations seen in a Burns Unit in Australia and New Zealand are small in size but can still be complex to manage. In this presentation the aetiology of burn injured patients that are transferred to hospital will be discussed along with current management strategies. Recent findings from the Burns Registry of Australia and New Zealand (BRANZ) will be reviewed along with common presentations including minor burns.

Biography: Rebecca Schrale

Bec has been working within the burns service at the Tasmanian Burns Unit for the last 22 years after moving to Tasmania in 2001. She commenced employment as the Burns Nurse Practitioner in 2022, prior to this she was the Burns Clinical Nurse Consultant for the Tasmanian Burns Unit at the Royal Hobart Hospital for 14 years.

Her initial nursing degree was through the Queensland University of Technology and she has been employed as a registered nurse for the past 29 years. She has worked and travelled extensively in Australia and internationally. She has been working in the area of Burns for the last 22 years and has a post graduate certificate in Adult Education and Training, a Graduate Diploma in Burns Nursing and a Masters of Nurse Practitioner (Burns).

Bec is the Tasmanian Key Coordinator for the Emergency Management of Severe Burns Course (EMSB) through the Australian and New Zealand Burns Association (ANZBA) and conducts courses nationally and internationally as a part of the faculty. Bec continues to volunteer for Interplast Australia and New Zealand and continues to support the Fiji Burns Unit as the burns education lead.

She is a member of the Nursing Executive, Burns Prevention and Education committee for ANZBA, and the Reference and steering committee for the Burns Registry of Australia and New Zealand. She is also a member of the Expert Reference Group for the Joanna Briggs Institute Burns Node.

She continues to advocate for burn injured patients in Tasmania, nationally and in Fiji and hopes to remaining working in the burns team for many years to come. Her focus continues to be on burns prevention, education and evidence based care.

Intubation in the setting of airways and inhalation burns

“Just because we can doesn’t mean we should.” The widening scope of practice for the ICP has begun to capture patient cohorts that lie at the fringes of well-defined research that support pre-hospital RSI. This session will explore the patient with airways-burns to understand if we are applying best practice in this low frequency, high acuity trauma.

Biography: Nick Roder

Nick commenced Paramedicine in 1991, became an ICP in1996, joined air ambulance in 2001 and achieved a Masters in Education in 2003. Since the early nineties, Nick has been involved in post-graduate education, curriculum development and patient care improvement, including guideline and reference construction.

Prehospital Burns Care Before Arrival To The Burns Centre

This talk with give an overview about epidemiology of major burns, pathophysiology and burns assessment. It then follows a primary survey outline with a focus on fluid resuscitation, hypothermia, and analgesia. Fluid resuscitation is a cornerstone of the early treatment of major burns patient. From a starting rate we work our way through to a more goal-directed titration. We will explore challenges and opportunities to optimise care on longer transfers to the Burns Centre.

Biography: Marc Schnekenburger

Marc Schnekenburger is an Emergency Consultant at The Alfred. He worked as Trauma Consultant at the Alfred and as Director of Trauma at Dubbo Base Hospital. As retrieval doctor he has worked for the Royal Flying Doctor Service and continues to work for ARV. He started his medical career in Germany as paramedic and migrated to Australia in 2008 where he followed his career in emergency and retrieval medicine. He has a fellowship in emergency medicine and holds a diploma in retrieval and transfer medicine. He is clinical lead for major burns at the Alfred Emergency & Trauma Centre.

Moderator: Lucy Oatley, ACPIC23 Organising Committee Chair and Intensive Care Flight Paramedic, Ambulance Tasmania