Presented by Shaun Whitmore Presentation Synopsis: Paediatric cases, particularly trauma case types, frequently cause a high level of anxiety in the Paramedic group for various reasons. This presentation will concentrate on practical strategies for the Paramedic to facilitate a more confident and systematic approach. This revolves around maximising use of similarities in assessment strategies to those used in adult Paramedic Practice, along with reinforcement of the imperatives for systematic approach to these case types. It will have an inherently practical bent to maximise the real world use by practicing clinicians. For the less experienced Paramedic it will reinforce and provide practical application for previous academic learning, and for the experienced Paramedic reinforce and build on previous strategies.

Bio: Shaun previously worked as a Division 1 Registered Nurse prior to joining Ambulance Victoria in 1992. He commenced his MICA training in 1999, and has worked for the past 10 years at HEMS 1 and HEMS 2 as a MICA Flight Paramedic. He currently coordinates the Paediatric and Obstetrics Post Graduate Study Unit for Monash University, along with the Aeromedical Retrieval and Coordination Unit. He has been involved in Undergraduate and Post Graduate Ambulance education since 1998.

Shaun is qualified as an Urban Search and Rescue Operator and has been deployed several times in this role, including during the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009, and to Samoa following the tsunami in 2009. He was recently deployed in the first Australian AusMAT team to Fiji following Tropical Cyclone Winston earlier this year. Shaun also has an interest in Wilderness Medicine and has recently completed Instructor qualifications in this area.