Australasian College of Paramedicine International Conference (ACPIC 2022)

ACPIC 2022 delivered a wide range of clinical and research sessions from experts and leaders in paramedicine. Hosted in Brisbane (September 2022) the program was designed to inspire, educate and broaden horizons.

Conference theme: Embracing Strengths | Shaping Futures

Deranged Physiology in Sepsis - Presented by Mitch Barnett

A brief overview on deranged vital signs as one of the early signs of sepsis and the reason these vital signs become abnormal from a pathophysiology perspective and how prehospital treatment can be tailored to manage these changes.

Antimicrobial Resistance: Why Paramedics Should Care About this Global Health Threat - Presented by Dr Jason Waddell

Antimicrobial resistance is a threat to the health and well-being to people across the globe. Antimicrobial resistance threatens many of the interventions modern medicine takes for granted. As resistance grows, ambulance officers can expect to see changes in the presentation of what has previously were mild illnesses, previously treatable by common antibiotics. Where antibiotics are used in the pre-hospital setting, their use should be guided by good antimicrobial practices to ensure optimal treatment while minimise the risk of resistance. Everyone has a role in stewarding the miracle of antibiotics in all parts of the health care system, including in the pre-hospital setting.

Guidelines and Hospital Management - Presented by Hugh Myers

Sepsis: The new Golden Hour? - Presented by David Anderson

Paramedics are expert at dealing with emergencies in the prehospital setting, but sepsis appears to have been overlooked in paramedic training and practice, despite being one of the most common emergencies we see. This session will briefly explore the epidemiology of sepsis paramedic practice and potential pathways and treatments.

Biographies

Mitch Barnett - Mitch has been a paramedic with the Queensland Ambulance Service for the past 7 years in the Logan district of South East Queensland. He is currently working on the critical care paramedic pod out of Woodridge station. He has completed both a bachelor's degree in paramedic science and a graduate diploma in Critical Care Paramedicine with distinction. Most recently Mitch has had experience working in both continual education and paramedic inductions. Outside of QAS Mitch has significant experience working in both film and tv and festival medicine and has been involved in multiple special deployment opportunities including the gulf of Carpentaria during the 2018 floods and to northern NSW during the most recent floods.

Dr Jason Waddell - Jason is a Specialist Pharmacist working with the Queensland Ambulance Service to ensure the quality use of medicines in the pre-hospital setting. He has worked in various roles in the health system, including clinical and management roles in public hospital pharmacy departments in a wide range of speciality areas. In 2021 he completed his PhD in pharmacy practice at the Queensland University of Technology.

Hugh Myers - Hugh is a Medical Officer at Queensland Health, currently working in Emergency Medicine at Logan Hospital. Prior to medicine, he worked as an Advanced Care Paramedic with Queensland Ambulance Service for eight years. His clinical interests are in patient safety and perioperative medicine. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with friends and family, video games, cricket and horse racing.

David Anderson - David is the Medical Director of Ambulance Victoria, an intensivist at The Alfred Hospital and an adjunct senior lecturer in the Department of Paramedicine at Monash University. He has trained and worked as a paramedic in Auckland and as a doctor in Auckland, Sydney and Toronto before settling in Melbourne. His clinical interests are prehospital and retrieval medicine, trauma, EMCO and bioethics. He has an embarrassingly large collection of Lego.

Conference MC: Dr Ben Meadley (Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Monash and Operational Improvement Lead (MICA) & senior Intensive Care Flight Paramedic (MICA), Ambulance Victoria)