Communication - it is the key to everything!!!

The ability to communicate effectively, particularly when under stress, is one of the most important elements of a Medic’s toolkit. In an emergency, communication needs to be sent in all directions, from talking to the patient, asking for help and kit, notifying others onboard who need information and may need to act, right up to your shoreside support. It means that what’s being communicated needs to be clear, concise, succinct and relevant to the person receiving it. 

In the heat of the moment, with adrenalin doing its thing, many casualty handovers can be a jumble of mixed up information, much of which will be useful, literally thrown at the recipient with no structure to speak of! So, to help keep part of this process as simple as it can be and ensure you’re passing the right information on in a logical manner, we recommend using handover tools. 

It’s understandable of course. Having dealt with the stress of a medical emergency, you’re only too keen to hand over to a ‘grown up’; grateful that someone else can take responsibility and that your role is nearly done. 

The information will be blurted out, bits will be forgotten, then remembered and chucked in, as fast as possible without taking a breath, and in places where it doesn't really make sense! It takes a bit of practice for handovers to become really slick and for you to be able to present the pertinent information quickly and efficiently.

But it doesn’t have to be that tricky and we’d like to share some of the methods that we were taught, that have since been refined. Below are a couple of useful handover tools that you could consider using to make sure your handover passes on the correct information with a minimal ‘faff factor’!

These examples show a slightly different approach for trauma and medical patients. 

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ATMIST is a tried and tested handover tool for trauma, but can adapt (if you change the Mechanism and Injuries to look at History and Symptoms) to be used for medical patients as well. You can find an ATMIST handover template on the inside front cover of the Ship Captain’s Medical Guide. 

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ATSAMPLE is to add in the useful information that can help determine the difference between "Big" sick and "Little" sick and also lets us tell the receiveing medic about the persons previous medical history and current medications all of which may affect the treatment plan in the early phases of care.

Learning how to handover a casualty is an integral part of all Red Square Medical training courses. Scenario based training means that you get the opportunity to assess a situation, think about the injuries or illness a person may be suffering, take a history and monitor vital signs, managing them to the best of your ability, before handing over. 

Good communication is a vital part of this process and includes communications with your patient, your team onboard and the Doctors ashore to help stabilise your casualty prior to a medical evacuation. 

We hope this short guide has been useful and please feel free to ask if you think you’d like a bit more information about what Red Square Medical can do for you.