Proficiencies 2011/12

Surf Lifesaving Australia requires all Active Patrolling members to pass an annual Bronze Medallion proficiency test to ensure:

• you have the skills level to be effective in the event of a rescue, resuscitation or other emergency.
• you are covered by SLSA's insurances if you are injured during SLSA activities including patrol & competition.
• you are covered by SLSA's insurances in the event you cause injury to anyone in the course of your SLSA duties.

Certain other awards also require an annual proficiency. See below for details.

There have been some changes to CPR and Radio Channels since last season. See below for details.

IMPORTANT NOTE!

No Patrolling or Competing if you're not financial or you don't have a current BM proficiency. No exceptions.

What does the bronze medallion proficiency test involve?

• Signals - 10 signals, 10 out of 10 correct
• 200m run / 200m swim / 200m run in under 8 minutes
• Patient Rescue (Board or Tube)
• Spinal Board Carry
• Manikin Resuscitation Demo (using current CPR rates and protocol, minor changes since last year, see below)
• Radio questions - Significant changes, see below
• IRB awareness

Refer to this document for more information about proficiency requirements

Which awards require a proficiency?

• Bronze Medallion / SRC
• ARTC
• IRB Driver
• IRB Crew
• Spinal Management
• Gold Medallion

Holders of the Advanced Emergency Care award remain proficient in that so long as they complete proficiencies in ARTC and Spinal Management and have a current Apply First Aid award.

Proficiency in Apply First Aid lasts for three years from date of award, after which the course needs to be re-taken.

There are no annual proficiency requirements for Silver Medallion Basic Beach Management (Patrol Captain).

If you did an ARTC or Spinal Management course after 1st July this year, you don't need to do a proficiency in that award until next season provided you do a Bronze Medallion proficiency this season

Proficiency Test Dates

At Tamarama

Date	Time	Award
Sunday 9th October	10am	Bronze, ARTC
Saturday 15th October	11:30am	Bronze
Sunday 23rd October	10am	Bronze, ARTC
Saturday 26th November	11:30am	Bronze

• Members unable to attend on these dates need to complete their proficiencies at neighbouring clubs. All patrolling members must be proficient by 31 December 2011.

At Neighbouring Clubs

Date	Time	Award	Location
Sunday 2nd October	11am	Spinal Management	Bondi
Tuesday 4th October	7pm	ARTC	Bondi
Sunday 9th October	10am	Spinal Management	North Bondi
Sunday 16th October	11am	Bronze & ARTC	Bronte
Wednesday 19th October	7pm	Spinal & ARTC	Coogee
Sunday 23rd October	2pm	Bronze, Spinal & ARTC	North Bondi
Tuesday 25th October	7pm	ARTC	Bondi
Sunday 29th October	11am	Bronze & ARTC	Bronte
Saturday 5th November	10am	Bronze, Spinal & ARTC	North Bondi
Sunday 13th November	11am	Bronze & ARTC	Bronte
Sunday 13th November	11am	Spinal Management	Bronte
Tuesday 15th November	7pm	ARTC	Bondi

• Important:
• You must email education@tamaramaslsc.org if you'd like to book in for a proficiency at a neighbouring club so that I can organise your paperwork. If you just show up your proficiency might not be recorded in Surfguard

What if...?

...I did my bronze in 2010/11

• You still need to do your proficiencies this season. Your hard won bronze medallion expires on 31 December 2011.

...I'm a Reserve Active member

• You need to be proficient to retain your Reserve Active membership.

...I'm a Long Service or Life member

• If you want to patrol or compete you must do your proficiency, otherwise it is optional.

...I wasn't proficient in 2010/11 but want to regain proficiency this season

• Email education@tamaramaslsc.org to discuss
• Bronze proficiency will be relatively straight forward but it will depend on when you were last proficient
• In future years members who have not been proficient for a number of seasons may be required to resit the entire bronze medallion course

...you're not proficient by 31st December 2011...

• You must not participate in patrols
• You must not participate in SLSA competitions
• You must not participate in rescues
• You must not use any club gear including rescue boards, racing boards and club skis
• You may place yourself and patients at significant risk of non-coverage by SLSA insurances

Lifesaving Update

What's new in 2011/12?

CPR

There is a new step, "S", in the resuscitation chart so it is now DRSABCD. No change to procedure as we always did this, but this formalises it.

The major change this season is that for a patient who is unresponsive and not breathing normally, CPR commences with chest compressions rather than rescue breaths.

However there is no change to the order for a drowned patient, i.e. Rescue Breaths then Compressions.

• D: DANGER - check for danger to yourself, the patient, and bystanders

• R: RESPONSE - check for response by talk and touch (COWS - CAN you hear me, OPEN your eyes, WHAT'S your name, SQUEEZE my hands).

• S: SEND FOR HELP - request an ambulance through Surfcom. Call 000 out of Surfcom hours.

• A: AIRWAY. Check airway and if not clear, roll onto side and clear airway.

• B: BREATHING. Check breathing. If no breathing or breathing not normal, commence CPR.

• C: CPR. No change to rate - 30 compressions to 2 rescue breaths. If drowning is NOT suspected, start with compressions. If drowning IS suspected, start with rescue breaths. No change to rate of compressions (100-120 per minute), or depth of compression (1/3 of patient's chest depth). Allow for complete chest recoil between compressions, minimise interruptions to compressions. Avoid excessive ventilation - only enough to see patient's chest rise. All club members can use therapy oxygen in conjunction with rescue breathing - see below for more information.

• D: DEFIBRILLATION. Remember that any bronze-proficient club member is able to use the defib unit. The sooner the defib is applied and used on an unconscious patient the greater the likelihood of recovery. Survival rate is 90% if defib applied within 1-2 minutes, 45% if applied within 6 minutes, and less than 5% if applied after 10 minutes. See below for more information on Defib.

The term "signs of life" is no longer used, the signs to look for before commencing CPR have been simplified to "responsiveness" and "breathing".

The Australian Resuscitation Council and Surf Lifesaving Australia have retained the rescue breathing although some international teaching bodies advocate compression-only CPR. However the ARC and SLSA recognise that any attempt at resuscitation is better than no attempt at all, and therefore if a person is unwilling or unable to perform rescue breathing, then compression-only CPR is better than no CPR at all.

Refer to Updated CPR Guidelines and CPR Poster for more information. (Note the poster should say Contact Surfcom and not dial 000 unless it's outside Surfcom hours)

Radio Channels

There has been a significant change to the radio channels used and what is displayed on the radios. Most of our radios now display a NAME rather than a CHANNEL NUMBER. In addition to this change, the channel numbers have also changed. Refer to the table below for details.

Surfcom (Channel 3) can be found on the channel that now displays BONDI. (This refers to the Bondi Repeater Station not Bondi SLSC). Communications between the beach and the clubhouse or roving patrols (the old channel 9) are now on the channel that displays PATRL, which is now Channel 2.

Our radios should therefore be kept on BONDI (Channel 3) so that we can make and receive calls to Surfcom. When communicating with the Clubhouse, Roving Patrols or the IRB, start on BONDI (Channel 3) and request that the other party moves to PATRL (Channel 2).

Only really relevant to IRB crews and if we take radios to other beaches at carnivals, we can now use our radios at other beaches outside Sydney. At Wollongong beaches Surfcom can be found at MADEN, and at Northern Sydney beaches Surfcom can be found at WARGH. Both these channels are also referred to as Channel 3, but neither will work from Tamarama or Sydney beaches.

We have not yet confirmed that the Tama Council Lifeguards will be using Channel 9 in practice, though it is available to them.

Display Name	New Channel	Old Equivalent	Purpose
HELI	1	1	Helicopter (formerly "Emergency")
PATRL	2	9	Beach patrols / intra-club non-repeated
BONDI	3	3	Surfcom - no change. Note the displayed name is BONDI, for the Bondi Repeater Station
CH9	9	New	Council Lifeguards
TRAIN1	25	25	Training and patrols (Non-encrypted)
TRAIN2	30	30	Training and patrols (Non-encrypted)
MADEN	3	3	Surfcom only when at Wollongong Beaches (Maddens Plains Repeater Station)
WARGH	3	3	Surfcom only when at Northern Sydney Beaches (Warringah Repeater Station)

Refer here for more information.

Other areas that have not changed since last season

Signals

• Refer to this diagram for all the signals.

Radio

General

• See above for updated radio channels. Tama radios do not scan and are normally used on BONDI (Channel 3). Move to PATRL (Channel 2 - not 9) once communication established.
• Establish communication first: "[Their Call Sign] [Their Call Sign] this is [Your Call sign], Over_" and then in response: _"[Their Call Sign] this is [Your Call Sign] Go Ahead" e.g. for the patrol to contact the IRB: "Tama IRB, Tama IRB, this is Tama Patrol, Over"... and then the IRB will reply "Tama Patrol, this is Tama IRB, Go Ahead"
• Use "Clear" at the end of a transmission where you don't require a response, and "Over" where you do require a response
• To clear chatter from BONDI (Channel 3) in the event of an emergency say "RESCUE RESCUE RESCUE"
• Be clear and precise. Remember the 4 P's: People, Problem, Position, Progress.

Call Signs

These are the main call signs, others can be found in the attached document from SLS Sydney.

Call Sign	Position/Area	Notes
Club Call Signs
Tamarama Patrol	Beach Patrol
Tamarama Roving	Roving Patrol
Tamarama Clubhouse	Patrol Room/Clubhouse
Tamarama IRB	IRB
Boats, Skis and Helicopters
Offshore 3	Based at Malabar	Offshore boat, note there is no 1 or 2 any more
Support Ski 2	Based at Sutherland	Jet Ski
Support Ski 3	Based at Maroubra	Jet Ski - this one patrols from Bondi to Bontany Bay, note there is no 1
Lifesaver 1	Based at La Perouse	Westpac Helicopter
Others
Waverley 10	Waverley Duty Officer	Serge Vegh
Waverley 11	Waverley Duty Officer	Vacant
Waverley 14	Waverley District Supervisor	Vacant
Surfcom	Surfcom

Defib

Notes:

• The defib unit should be on the beach for every patrol (unless it's a surveillance patrol)
• The defib unit is semi-automatic and gives voice prompts as soon as you turn it on. It analyses heart rhythm and only delivers a shock when appropriate - it is not possible to shock a healthy patient (though don't test this!).
• All bronze-proficient club members can operate the Defib, there is no longer a requirement to have a specialist award to use it.

Steps for use:

• Confirm that patient has no signs of breathing or responsiveness and conduct DRSABCD and CPR as above.
• Make sure patient is on dry land, remove clothing from chest and dry with towel. If possible remove metal jewellery or move it out of the line between the two pads in order to prevent arcing.
• Remove packaging from electrode pads and apply to chest as shown on diagram on pads. Ensure there is a good seal with the patient's body. Might need to shave patient's chest if very hairy (razor in defib case).
• If patient has an implanted pacemaker (an obvious protrusion from the skin) make sure pads are at least 2.5cm away from it.
• Turn unit on (green button)
• Follow voice prompts. Don't touch the body or perform CPR when it says "Analysing". It is assessing whether a shock is required.
• It will either say "Continue CPR" in which case do so, or "Shock Advised".
• The red shock button will flash. Ensure oxygen is removed from patient and turned off. Ensure all personnel stand clear. Press the red button.
• A shock will be delivered. Follow voice prompts afterwards. There will be another cycle of "Analysing" and then "Continue CPR" or "Shock Advised".
• Even if no shock is advised, continue! CPR until relieved by the ambulance crew.
• Leave pads attached to the patient - they can be used by the ambulance/hospital defib units.

Precautions and Safety

• Do not use on children
• Remove any metallic jewellery near electrode sites if possible
• Do not place electrodes over medication patches
• Avoid electrode contact with any metal surface
• Turn off oxygen before delivering shock
• Operators and bystanders must have no contact with patient during shock phase
• Do not operate in an explosive environment where gases or fumes might be present (e.g. IRB shed)
• In wet conditions (e.g. rain) wipe chest dry before positioning electrodes
• Move a patient lying in water to a dry area
• Do not operate in an unstable environment which may prevent the unit from performing a valid assessment of the patient
• Do not operate in close proximity to mobile phones, radios or other electronic devices

Oxygen Therapy

Notes

• Any bronze-proficient club member can use oxygen therapy
• Only ARTC proficient members can use the air-bag, OP Airways and suction devices.

When to use Therapy Oxygen

Therapy Oxygen (9 litres/minute) can be used with the Therapy Mask (soft mask with elastic strap) by handing the patient the mask to hold or put on, or by holding the tube under their nose with no mask. It is useful in the following circumstances:

• Shock
• Blood Loss
• Chest Pain
• Shortness of breath
• Asthma (though preferred treatment is patient's own inhaler if available)
• Circulatory Distress
• Severe Pain
• Injuries
• After resuscitation

Using Oxygen Therapy during CPR

If no ARTC member is present to operate the air-bag then the following procedure is used:

• Move to jaw-thrust and apply a resus mask (hard mask with hole to for rescue breaths) to the patient
• Insert oxygen tube through opening of mask, hold in place with thumb, and conduct rescue breathing as normal

Precautions and Safety

• Never use near an open flame
• Never use near lit cigarettes
• Never use in IRB shed or near other combustible materials
• Turn off oxygen and remove from patient during defib shock.

If you need more information

• Speak to your Patrol Captain
• Read the Bronze Medallion Manual which is in the Patrol Room
• Attend your first couple of patrols - the Education team will be conducting pre-proficiency updates with all patrols
• Contact one of the Education Team: Tom Bodger, Chief Instructor (education@tamaramaslsc.org), Troy Longworth, Assistant Chief Instructor (assistantinstructor@tamaramaslsc.org)