Pre Hospital Critical Care | PG Cert

Course Overview

The PG Cert Pre-hospital Critical Care is delivered by experienced academics and jointly run with an eminent provider of pre-hospital critical care.

Our experienced academic team utilise theory and practice to give students the opportunity to develop a thorough understanding of a variety of situations, including patient care, systems, and circumstances where critical care may be required, all with specific reference to UK practice. Students can explore the key themes of patient care, systems that pre-hospital critical care operates in, and circumstances in which it is delivered. Studying these areas will provide the perfect opportunity for students to become clinicians who are ready to embark upon more specialised, practical training.

Why Choose Lincoln

Delivered in conjunction with LIVES

Opportunities to build practical skills

industry standard facilities

Learn from industry experienced experts

How You Study

You will be able learn via a blend of in-person, directed, and non-directed study. This can include seminars, workshops, and practical skills labs.

This programme is also delivered in conjunction with LIVES, a leading organisation in the provision and training of prehospital critical care.

Teaching typically takes place once per week.

Modules

† Some courses may offer optional modules. The availability of optional modules may vary from year to year and will be subject to minimum student numbers being achieved. This means that the availability of specific optional modules cannot be guaranteed. Optional module selection may also be affected by staff availability.

Circumstances of Prehospital Critical Care 2024-25HEP9006MLevel 72024-25Situations giving rise to the need for prehospital critical care will be looked at in terms of frequency and the hazards of scenes encountered. By its nature prehospital care can be hazardous, involving practitioners at scenes which have often been the cause of significant harm to others, and there are good reasons for preserving the safety of responders, both philosophical and economic (Calland, 2000). Making significant decisions quickly and accurately is important and these high complexity, high acuity situations must be prepared for (Collen, 2017). The process of making these decisions is important to consider whilst not under pressure within these situations and must be prepared for in advance using systems such as the Joint Emergency Service Interoperability Programmes’ (2021) principles. Human factors, crew resource management and command and control will also be covered, as there is frequently a disparate team of people involved in the care of a patient from many different backgrounds and potentially with competing principles. Being able to command such a team is a skill important in prehospital critical care to work collaboratively in the interests of the patient. This also helps reduce the stress of the incident for all concerned (Davis, 2014) as can temporary relief to recover cognitive bandwidth to enhance performance (Prottengeier et.al., 2019). There will be a significant focus on leadership throughout and a focus on enhancing situations to provide better care and optimised results for patients.CorePatients in Prehospital Critical Care 2024-25HEP9004MLevel 72024-25Students will begin to analyse their own practice in light of the information imparted and discussed within the module and also become ready to embark on further training towards practical competency in some areas, where applicable. All students will become familiar with the indications, contra-indications, and methods of prehospital emergency anaesthesia (PHEA). The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommends PHEA should be available to patients in need within 45 minutes of their injury (NICE, 2016), but PHEA carries a high risk of death or harm if carried out incorrectly (Hooper and Lockey, 2013). PHEA should be undertaken by highly skilled operators and specially trained assistants, in practice this is usually a physician and paramedic team (Caruana et.al. 2015), often with tasks shared between the physician and the paramedic or other such assistant (Price et.al., 2022). Time-critical illness or injury can strike almost anyone at almost any time. It is important for students of this field of practice to be familiar with the patient populations they may encounter and the injury or disease progressions that may have led to the patient being in need (Boylan and Nutbeam, 2013). It must be borne in mind that, in this context, students will already have significant experience of their own and this requires augmenting to this field, rather than ab-initio education to complex health needs. The evidence base for many prehospital critical care interventions is marginal (Hepple et.al., 2019) but improving, as is the methodology being used (Lyons et.al, 2021) and it is important that practitioners are able to justify their practice appropriately and utilise the evidence base effectively. Similarly, there are a plethora of devices, equipment, and diagnostics that are being manufactured to be practical to use out-of-hospital, but their use must be considered in a rational and patient-centred way (Fevang et.al., 2011) High quality evidence such as the randomised control trials which, when meta-analysed, inform so much practice in health and medicine, are impractical for many of the situations practitioners in prehospital care may find themselves and much is made of this area of medicine being more used to guidance rather than protocol, with consensus statements being used routinely in areas of routine practice (Faculty of Prehospital Care, 2017). In this way, it is anticipated that on completion of this module students will have received a significant amount of evidence and instruction on current, state-of-the-art thinking on how to care for patients in need of critical care in the prehospital arena. Students will be able to apply their skills and knowledge to their own practice and potentially be aspirant in their approach towards becoming clinically competent in certain procedures relative to their position; a doctor undertaking this programme may use this programme as part of a portfolio demonstrating readiness for a certificate of anaesthetic competency, for example, or a paramedic towards being authorised within their system of governance to carry out thoracostomies autonomously.CoreSystems Involved in Prehospital Critical Care 2024-25HEP9005MLevel 72024-25Situations giving rise to the need for prehospital critical care will be looked at in terms of frequency and the hazards of scenes encountered. By its nature prehospital care can be hazardous, involving practitioners at scenes which have often been the cause of significant harm to others, and there are good reasons for preserving the safety of responders, both philosophical and economic (Calland, 2000). Making significant decisions quickly and accurately is important and these high complexity, high acuity situations must be prepared for (Collen, 2017). The process of making these decisions is important to consider whilst not under pressure within these situations and must be prepared for in advance using systems such as the Joint Emergency Service Interoperability Programmes’ (2021) principles. Human factors, crew resource management and command and control will also be covered, as there is frequently a disparate team of people involved in the care of a patient from many different backgrounds and potentially with competing principles. Being able to command such a team is a skill important in prehospital critical care to work collaboratively in the interests of the patient. This also helps reduce the stress of the incident for all concerned (Davis, 2014) as can temporary relief to recover cognitive bandwidth to enhance performance (Prottengeier et.al., 2019). There will be a significant focus on leadership throughout and a focus on enhancing situations to provide better care and optimised results for patients.Core

What You Need to Know

We want you to have all the information you need to make an informed decision on where and what you want to study. In addition to the information provided on this course page, our What You Need to Know page offers explanations on key topics including programme validation/revalidation, additional costs, contact hours, and our return to face-to-face teaching.

How you are assessed

We utilise a range of assessment types to allow you demonstrate our varied skillsets. Assessment can take the form of assignments, presentations, and clinically-reasoned objective structured clinical examination.

Career Development

Postgraduate study is an investment in yourself and your future. Qualifications in pre-hospital critical care services are widely sought after in areas such as air ambulances and medical response teams and would demonstrate very effective CPD for pre-hospital professionals or as an introduction to pre-hospital emergency medicine for those less acquainted with the specialism.

Why Postgraduate Study?

How to Apply

Postgraduate Application Support

Applying for a postgraduate programme at Lincoln is easy. Find out more about the application process and what you'll need to complete on our How to Apply page. Here, you'll also be able to find out more about the entry requirements we accept and how to contact us for dedicated support during the process.

How to Apply

Entry Requirements 2024-25

Entry Requirements

Entry Requirements

To be eligible to apply for this programme, applicants must be registered health care professionals in the UK and must be able to demonstrate experience of providing pre-hospital care.

Fees

Please note, this course is not open for overseas students.

Pre-hospital Critical Care - PG Cert	2024/25 Entry
Home	£3,540

Other Costs

With regards to text books, the University provides students who enrol with a comprehensive reading list and you will find that our extensive library holds either material or virtual versions of the core texts that you are required to read. However, you may prefer to purchase some of these for yourself and you will be responsible for this cost.

Funding Your Study

Postgraduate Funding Options

Find out more about the optional available to support your postgraduate study, from Master's Loans to scholarship opportunities. You can also find out more about how to pay your fees and access support from our helpful advisors.

Explore Funding Options

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Postgraduate Events

To get a real feel for what it is like to study at the University of Lincoln, we hold a number of dedicated postgraduate events and activities throughout the year for you to take part in.

Upcoming Postgraduate Events