The intensive eight day expedition medicine course was run at the Mount Cameron Field Study Centre in Tasmania’s north-east.
Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) Antarctic Medical Practitioner Dr Clive Strauss said it was just a glimpse into the harsh environment awaiting doctors.
“Our stations are extremely isolated communities. With just a single doctor at each one, it’s absolutely critical they are ready for a wide range of scenarios,” Dr Strauss said.
Participants undertook search and rescue in thick bushland, scaled rocks to reach patients and shivered through the chilly Tasmanian night.
“While Tasmania is a world away from the frozen continent, the landscape is tough and most importantly, cold,” Dr Strauss said.
“The location was especially useful for focussing on practical skills such as rope work and knot tying. It was the perfect classroom.”
The course also provided important components in cold injury management, wound treatment, remote area communication as well as navigation and field skills.
General Manager of Operations and Safety, Charlton Clark, said each station doctor was also supported by the Polar Medicine Unit based in Hobart.
“The Australian Antarctic Division has spent decades developing and refining how we deliver medical care in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean,” Mr Clark said.
“We need to ensure our doctors not only have the best medical training but also the best expeditioner training.”
New Antarctic Medical Practitioner, Dr Bosco Li said the week had been a rewarding experience.
“Seeing how a mix of knowledge and skills can be used to progress our understanding of the world around us, whilst creating fun and fond memories along the way could be something quite amazing,” Dr Li said.
The Antarctic-bound doctors were joined by other healthcare professionals on the course, which is open to the public and run by the University of Tasmania’s Healthcare in Remote and Extreme Environments Program as partners with the AAD in the Centre for Antarctic, Remote and Maritime Medicine.
Learning the ropes
Doctors destined for Australia’s remote Antarctic research stations have been pitted against Tasmania’s rugged wilderness to sharpen their skills in preparation for life on the ice.
Cold nights, isolation and steep cliffs were just a few of the challenges facing four new Antarctic medical practitioners, set to travel to Casey, Mawson, Davis and Macquarie Island stations over summer.
Learning the ropes
Video transcript
This training sets the scene for attending to a casualty in the wilderness in any sort of circumstance. At night time, in the rain, in the cold, whatever arises.
We'll hold it and then one, two, three, down. Okay just to make sure that everything's okay. Right so one, two, three, up.
You're far away from, from help and you really have to be self-sufficient, but more than that you actually rely on your team surprisingly how much you depend on the others with you.
Sally, some, how's about we leave you some pain relief and a radio. I'll kill the radio as well.
It was wonderful. Yes so it was great we were a small group and I think we all got to know each other pretty well over the eight days and it was challenging.
Would you be able to (indistinguishable) We've got some people listening out to see if you're nearby.
One of the aspects on the course was to kind of try and get yourself acclimatised by having cold showers in the morning, so that's going pretty well at the minute, so.
I like the concept of being a little bit outside of your comfort zone but being able to kind of utilise what's around you with your everyday kind of experience, and yeah maybe experience all the outdoors as well, and being able to thrive in that environment is quite appealing.
[end transcript]