Heartbeat: Practice makes perfect – helping seriously ill children

July 20, 2021

Colleagues across the Trust have been signing up to complete the newly offered Resuscitation Council (UK) course to perfect their knowledge and know-how in the recognition and management of the seriously ill child.

Children can be amongst the most difficult patients to clinically support with their limited communication skills, so when their health deteriorates it is critical that colleagues are willing, able and confident to respond and act decisively to give these patients the best possible care.

To find out more about the new course offerings, we caught up with Course Director and Resuscitation Officer, Kevin Jennison. He said: “We’re dedicated to delivering high quality training which is targeted to the needs of our patient groups and to our colleagues and we’re pleased to now deliver the European Paediatric Advanced Life Support (EPALS) course. It’s a two-day course that gives colleagues the skills they need to recognise the causes and prevention of a deteriorating child, or when a child is seriously ill and in need of an intervention, as well as training in how to carry out resuscitation on children

“The EPALS course is a blend of lectures, demonstrations and opportunities to practice and be assessed, so it’s a thoroughly balanced course that supports professional development in a supportive environment.”

Completing the course, CT1 Anaesthetic Trainee Dr Sunil James said: “Working in the emergency department we see a lot of young people, teenagers and children and I initially felt a little unconfident and uncomfortable managing how ill they were and I feel that this course has increased my confidence and ability to manage them in a systematic way. I’m a kinaesthetic learner so the design of the course with a combination of lecture and practical really suited my style of learning.”

Also taking part on the course was Paediatric Staff Nurse, Kirsty Cockell, sharing her thoughts she said: “This course has been very interesting, it’s very scenario based, so you get to work with a team, it allows you to improve your skills, communication and take a team leader approach.

“Doing this course gave me more confidence in resuscitation being the nurse in charge looking after a child who is in cardiac arrest or unwell. This course has not only given me more confidence, but reassured me of my ability to provide the best care for children in these situations.”

To find out more about the booking on to and completing the European Paediatric Advanced Life Support (EPALS) course, contact the deteriorating patient and resuscitation team on ext. 5908.