Life skills

Report and photo: Samantha Blair

They deal with the most severe medical emergencies, victims of road, rail and air disasters, house fires and crime. They are elite Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance (MICA) paramedics, unique to Victoria. They are trained by Monash University.

Each year 150 paramedics and elite MICA specialists graduate from Monash courses. Samantha Blair speaks with two of them.

As the sun rises over Melbourne's northern suburbs, Kate Cantwell and partner Brian Hicks are preparing for their 10-hour shift as Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance (MICA) paramedics.

"It's a career that I love and can't really imagine doing anything else," Ms Cantwell said.

Ms Cantwell and Mr Hicks work for the Metropolitan Ambulance Service (MAS) and are graduates of Monash University's MICA paramedics training course, an intensive one-year postgraduate course for ambulance paramedics who already have a minimum of two years experience.

The Monash MICA postgraduate course requires an extensive knowledge of paramedic procedures. After a short classroom stint, students must complete studies on-the-job through a variety of assignments and work-related projects.

Monash University is Victoria's sole provider of MICA education and has been linked to paramedic training for 40 years.

The postgraduate courses provide paramedics with advanced training that emphasises clinical decision-making. It goes beyond practical skills to include more complex processes such as the administration of life-saving drugs, acute care, treatment in critical situations and the capacity to make complex clinical decisions without medical consultation.

"Most training to be a paramedic can't really be done in a classroom - every situation is different and I think the Monash course is such a success because it incorporates study with on-the-job training," Ms Cantwell said.

Back on the road and within an hour of "clocking on", the first of 15 emergency call outs for the day has been logged. Most of the call outs are for patients suffering chest pain, heart attacks or shortness of breath. But the MICA teams are trained to deal with disasters and tragedies and they know a call out of this nature can happen anytime that will test the very limits of their training and resilience. It is MICA paramedics who are called to road, rail and air disasters, house fires and the most serious criminal acts where the lives of victims hang in the balance.

"Some of our emergencies can be very distressing. Car accidents, drug overdoses or any incidents that involve young children," Mr Hicks said.

"You deal with it as best you can and you have to adopt the thinking that the patients' chances of survival are much better having us there. Just do the best you can and trust your training and experience."

Ms Cantwell said the job brings a great deal of personal satisfaction, knowing that the training and experience of a paramedic can help save a life or treat someone in distress.

"We don't get a lot of thanks in our job, many of the situations are far too distressing for people to thank us at the time, but it's more knowing that we make a positive contribution to the lives of patients and their families," she said.

Life skills

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