October 2014

Pez Maya

Successful EFR Training and Scenarios

Objectives

To train all volunteers in basic first aid and CPR to the level of emergency first responder
To carry out a realistic emergency drill on base and ensure all volunteers respond correctly and
provide appropriate first aid for various simulated injuries

Summary
Upon arriving on base all volunteers are trained in emergency first response (EFR). We carry out the
course every four weeks as new volunteers arrive. After learning and practicing all of the individual skills
they participate in a surprise scenario that serves as a final assessment of their skills.
In October we had a large group of 20 new volunteers who were all successfully trained in EFR and with
such a large group we had the opportunity to run a very thorough and exciting scenario which went very
well.
Report
Due to the nature of our expedition, it is very important that volunteers and staff are always ready to
deliver first aid to others in case of an
emergency. All the staff members on base
are qualified as EFR providers or EFR
instructors. As part of the initial training,
the instructors deliver the course to the
new arrivals to make sure everybody is
ready to act in an emergency.
The EFR training consists of learning and
practicing skills such as the following:

Scene assessment
Barrier use
Primary assessment
CPR
Serious bleeding management
Shock management
Spinal injury management
Choking
Injury assessment
Illness assessment

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Figure 1 Volunteer practicing CPR

Bandaging
Splinting

We practice each skill thoroughly until all students are comfortable and
confident with their abilities. There is also the knowledge development
section which consists of reading the student manual, answering a
series of questions and a written final exam.
Upon completion of all skills and knowledge development we then
simulate a large scale emergency on base with multiple scenarios and
injuries occurring at once. The volunteers are all unaware before the
simulation itself as to properly make a final assessment of their skills.
Being as how we had such a large group in October we had to simulate
quite a few different scenarios at once to properly assess all students Figure 2 How to roll somebody
to the recovery position
skills.
We simulated a terrible
machete accident where the
user had severed hurt their
leg, a victim impaled by
rebar from falling debris,
staff members fainting and
a car crash involving the
driver hitting a member of
staff. The staff were all
incapacitated due to being
victims of the emergency or
frantically panicking so they
were of no assistance to the
volunteers who had to act
on their own.

Figure 3 EFR scenario volunteers in action

Conclusion
All of the volunteers did an excellent job in handling the situation and the staff turned out to be quite
good actors. We had a large group debrief after the scenario discussing what could have been done
differently. In the end we ended up with 20 new emergency first responders after much drama and
laughter.
To find out more about the Pez Maya expedition visit: http://www.gvi.co.uk/programs/marineconservation-expedition-mexico

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