Manage CPR & trauma calls

At the early registrar level it is expected that a prevocational doctor will have acquired the skills, knowledge and behaviours to competently manage CPR and trauma calls.

This task describes a number of activities, as below, where proficiency should be achievable by the end of PGY3.  The doctor is encouraged to access the key clinical task guidelines and seek the support of his/her supervisor for feedback on performance.

  • Has completed hospital CPR course
  • Has completed/planning to complete the
  • Advanced Trauma Life Support® (ATLS®) (formerly Early Management of Severe Trauma (EMST)) course
  • Able to lead as part of team approach
  • Able to be part of a team
  • When able, review patient file for CPR
  • When able, plan next steps for trauma
  • Primary to secondary surveys
  • Discuss management with senior doctor
  • PGY 1
  • PGY 2
  • PGY 3

  • Collaboration and teamwork

    • Respond positively to requests for help from team, as needed
    • Adopt flexible roles within different teams and accept assigned tasks
    • Self-awareness of how one’s views may contribute to team tension
  • Medical expertise
    • Recognise and effectively assess acutely ill, deteriorating and dying patients
    • Perform basic emergency and life support procedures while continuing full assessment of the patient to include:
      • Apply principles of triage and medical prioritisation
      • Identify patients requiring immediate resuscitation and when to call for help, e.g. Code Blue, MET calls
      • Implement basic airway management, ventilatory and circulatory support
      • Identify indications for advanced airway management
      • Participate in decision making, and debriefing, about cessation of resuscitation
  • Technical expertise

  • Collaboration and teamwork

    • Recognise issues that impede teamwork and suggest/implement actions to improve it
    • Recognise expertise and roles of other health team members and staff
  • Communication
    • Keep patients and significant others informed of management plan progress
  • Health advocacy
    • Note and understand the Enduring Power of Attorney and the Advanced Care Directives
    • Consider how culture, beliefs and health literacy can affect patient understanding of their care and expectations
  • Judgement and clinical decision making
    • Able to succinctly present the patient scenario and discuss management plan
    • Implement the ISBAR approach of identification, description of case, clinical background, assessment and recommendation for discussion
    • Recognise when advice and guidance is required in development of management plans
  • Leadership and management
    • Recognise stressful situations and know when to ask for help
  • Medical expertise
    • Identify medical errors or adverse events and implement the appropriate clinical protocols to manage them
  • Scholarship and teaching
    • Provide constructive, timely and specific feedback to interns based on observation of a junior’s performance, encouraging them to reflect on their own learning
  • Technical expertise

  • Collaboration and teamwork

    • Work within the team to identify and remedy errors, particularly using a systems approach
    • Encourage participation of all team members and allocate appropriate tasks to junior members

  • Communication

    • Use graded assertiveness where appropriate

  • Judgement and clinical decision making

    • Recognise when a management plan is failing and, where appropriate, seek senior input to devise an alternative plan
    • Discuss imperfect management and reflect on one’s own clinical reasoning process
    • Recognise instances of uncertainty and conflicting values, and able to alleviate their potential impact

  • Leadership and management

    • Use existing systems to manage adverse events and near misses
    • Delegate appropriate tasks to junior members, ensuring supervision is maintained
  • Medical expertise
    • Audit own and team performance in relation to patient progress and outcome
  • Technical expertise
    • Able to demonstrate that basic essential surgical skills constructs are well established
    • Able to assess advanced Essential Surgical Skills constructs (competent with basic and intermediate) both for use in current position as well as for surgical education and training (SET) application – career pathway
    • Competent with intermediate and many of the advanced Essential Surgical Skills constructs