What it takes to become a LifeFlight doctor

Going into medicine is not for the faint hearted, but these doctors really take things to the extreme. WATCH THE VIDEO

A career in medicine is not for the faint hearted, but these doctors really take things to the extreme.

More than two dozen doctors have just graduated from RACQ LifeFlight’s specialist training academy and will now take up roles across the state as rescue critical care doctors.

The doctors need to have the skills necessary to react to a range of dangerous situations, from navigating underwater escapes to managing a rescue via a winch.

Mick Dowling, manager of helicopter underwater escape training (HUET), said doctors need to be able get people out of dangerous situations safely.

LifeFlight doctor training, Winch. Photo: LifeFlight.

“In most cases occupants will survive the impact initially. It’s when the aircraft is underwater, they’re getting disoriented with the water, and it’s all about giving the skills to exit the aircraft using references, so the whole time they know exactly where they are in that machine,” he said.

LifeFlight chief aircrew officer Matt O’Rourke said winch training was essential so doctors could get to patients inaccessible by road or foot.

“We take them through a range of different winch scenarios – single winch, double winch, stretcher winch – of which they may utilise once in the field,” he said.

LifeFlight doctor training, Whyte Island. Photo: LifeFlight.

“The scenarios are very much tailored to the base they would be at. So that can be over land, they may be winching 100ft to a motorbike accident, it could be 250ft into a ravine, to ocean tasks which may be to a large container vessel, a passenger cruise ship where we have a critical patient, or an injured patient and they need to retrieve them back into the aircraft.”

As part of their training the doctors are placed into high-pressure mock scenarios at the

Queensland Combined Emergency Services Academy at Whyte Island in Brisbane.

Dr Armela Khorassani. Photo: LifeFlight.

Scenarios range from multi-casualty car crashes, to a house party incident involving a child and a boating disaster.

The doctors will take up their new roles at RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter and Air Ambulance jet bases across the state, with some assigned to other aeromedical services.

Originally published as What it takes to become a LifeFlight doctor