Telehealth training: Interprofessional mixed reality simulation in a retrieval service setting.

The use of Telehealth is well established in Australian retrieval service settings to aid assessment and management of patients requiring aeromedical transportation and to provide support to clinicians at remote facilities. Telehealth ensures prompt advice and treatment for critically ill and injured patients and can facilitate a resuscitation until the retrieval team arrives. There is scant information regarding the knowledge, skills and abilities required of Telehealth professionals, despite the universal recognition of it requiring a complex skill set, comprehensive understanding of technology and mastery of retrieval medicine. We share the experiences of the South Australia Ambulance Service MedSTAR Emergency Medical Retrieval Service preparing an education programme focussed on the psychometric skills in Telehealth. Our programme realistically simulates Telehealth and coordination systems in use across South Australia, provides in-depth hands-on practice for medical and nursing staff that incorporates teamwork, communication, technical and critical thinking skills and culminates with a mixed-reality simulation scenario and formal debrief.

Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic: The experiences of South Australia's Rescue, Retrieval and Aviation Services.

COVID-19 poses significant challenges to pre-hospital and retrieval medicine (PHRM) clinicians - and many are unique to this area of clinical practice. We share the experiences of the South Australian Ambulance Service (SAAS) MedSTAR Emergency Medical Retrieval Service in preparing for the COVID-19 pandemic in the pre-hospital and retrieval setting - including the role of a multidisciplinary leadership team; challenges and potential approaches to screening for COVID-19; personal protective equipment for pre-hospital and aeromedical taskings; issues arising with interstate retrievals; and the role of telehealth. Although novel solutions allowed SAAS MedSTAR to continue to deliver high-quality care, considering the resource implications involved in undertaking the transfer of patients with COVID-19, it is clear that significant community disease transmission threatens to overwhelm any PHRM service. Should Australia face a significant future outbreak, it is conceivable that some PHRM operations may need to be reduced or suspended entirely.