This recording is from 2018 or earlier, prior to national registration for paramedics being implemented in Australia and Aotearoa. Please note that while there is some excellent content that pre-dates registration, some may be out of date or no longer relevant to current guidelines and standards.
Presented by Associate Professor David Caldicott
Bio: Associate Professor David Caldicott is an Emergency Consultant at the Emergency Department of the Calvary Hospital in Canberra and a Clinical Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine at the Australian National University. He is a spokesperson for the Australian Science Media Centre on issues of illicit drug use and the medical response to terrorism and disasters.
David is the author of the ‘Bombs, Blasts and Bullets’ course, designed as a primer for first Australian responders to terrorist incidents. He maintains an active interest and involvement in the mass gathering medicine field, particularly in regards to music festivals. He has extensive experience with in situ “pill-testing / drug checking” in the Australian context.
David designed and piloted the Welsh Emergency Department Investigation of Novel Substances (WEDINOS) project in the UK, a unique program using regional emergency departments as sentinel monitoring hubs for the emergence and spread of novel illicit products. He is currently replicating this work in Australia with the ACT Investigation of Novel Substances (ACTINOS) Group, under the Australian Drug Observatory at the ANU for which he is the Clinical Lead.
David has published widely in the peer-reviewed literature, and presents nationally and internationally on the subject of the use of the emergency department as an observatory for the surveillance of novel psychotropic substances as they evolve, as well as their effects in acute overdose.
The College is the peak professional body representing and supporting paramedics and student paramedics across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand since 1973.
The College acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians of the land and sea in which we live and work, we recognise their continuing connection to land, sea and culture and pay our respects to Elders past, present and future.
The College acknowledges Māori as tangata whenua and Treaty of Waitangi partners in Aotearoa New Zealand.
