Welcome to The Remote Support Medics Online
What is Remote Support Medics Online
The Remote Medics Online website and the RemoteSupportMedics discussion forum is dedicated as a online resource and promotional site for anyone involved in all aspects of Remote Support Medicine. It will be of use to anyone whether professional or volunteer who has cause to treat patients in remote or hostile environments.
Remote Support Medics Online are also dedicated to promoting the Remote Medic as a profession. This small group of people often go unnoticed even by their close colleagues in the rest of the medical world. Remote Support Medicine comprises of many different faces, not all of them well known, members of the discussion group which runs parallel to the website include, offshore and remote site medics, tactical and military medics, members of the sea rescue and the mountain rescue services, and a varied amount of other specialist medics, such as close protection and mine clearance medics.
The Remote Support Medics Online Site is run in conjunction with the RemoteSupportMedics discussion group that was set up initially to discuss subjects related to offshore or international remote support medicine. It has now however grown and includes over 800 members from all areas of the field. The website and discussion group is slightly slanted towards the offshore oil and gas industry and medics working alone in isolated environments, it does however have content of interest to anyone involved in treating casualties in remote or austere locations.
What Remote Support Medics Online is NOT
Remote Support Medics online is not an employment agency, employer, supplier or medical services or a CV review service. The link to training providers and employers kindly provided by Larry Torrey will give more than enough contacts to send your CV’s to. Please do not send it to the editor or site owner, we enjoy hearing from you but we just do not have the time to read hundreds of CV’s ! – Many Thanks !
Support Your Site
I hope that the site becomes a resource of information for all medics working in the field, we hope to have photo's, project reports, papers, protocols and case studies. However this will only work with YOUR help, the author needs your stories, case studies and experiences for posting on the site, these can either be anonymous or credited to the person who wrote them.
It is hoped that in the near future we will add a free upload and download service for you to add your presentations, files and documents you think would be useful to other members. This section of the site however is still in the consideration stage.
The site is run on a “not for profit” basis. That is to say all costs are met by the editor and owner, considerable time and effort is expended on both the website and discussion group, not to mention the obvious annual hosting costs. We therefore ask you to provide us with some support by viewing and purchasing some of our promotional materials, these can be found by following the merchandise link at the side of the page
Introduction
The section below is aimed at those outside our industry, the idea is to give them a general feel for what we do and how we do it.
What is a Remote Support Medic?
Medics come in different guises, working wherever the operating companies need them, broadly this is broken down in to four categories,
Oil Rigs, Production Platforms, and other offshore installations.
Project Shipping, i.e. Pipe laying, construction and diving vessels.
Sites supporting the overseas mining industry, copper, gold and silver mines
Jobs outside of industry such as CP, mine clearance and rescue medics
What sort of people do the job ?
Some would say only the crazy ! The offshore / remote support medic comes from a variety of different backgrounds however most commonly from the Military or Navy having served his (or her) time with forces as a medic. That having been said the Nursing profession is well represented also providing a large proportion "medics"
What are the professional Requirements ?
There are a number of centres around the UK that carry out HSE approved offshore medic training, which is a requirement for any medic expecting to work in the North Sea area, though may not strictly be required for work overseas. Though most companies employing overseas medics do follow the UK guidelines. Pre-entry standards are usually ex military class 1 medic or its Tri-service equivalent, and Registered Nurses with Accident and Emergency or Trauma Experience. If accepted you will then complete the UK offshore medics course, a training course of 4 weeks renewed every 3 years, this must also be accompanied by a current offshore survival certificate and an in date medical. Further to this training is optional, but usually medics keep up a certain skill level, the theory being you are paid deal with anything can be thrown at you so you should be ready. Most medics hold at least one if not more of the following,
Registered EMT- Paramedic
Dive Medic Certificate
Advanced Cardiac Life Support
Pre Hospital Trauma Life Support
First Aid Instructors,
Advanced Life Support Skills Diploma's or Certificates within the field of PHC
What Else Am I expected to do ?
You will usually be expected to fill other rolls while at work, most commonly administrator, Helicopter landing officer or Radio Operator. You will normally be expected to work a 12 hour shift with the following 12 hours on call. This is usually done on a time on time off basis, ie two weeks on followed by two weeks off at home, this is often increased to 4 or 6 weeks when working abroad.
Where will I go ?
The author of the site is now entering his 12th year in the industry and has worked, in the UK North Sea, Denmark, The Congo, Angola and Mali in Africa, Myanmar in the East, and Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan on the edge of the Caspian and the United States. His current assignment is providing Medical Response Advice and Supervision to a large oil company operating in the Caspian sea.
If you have any questions about what we do, where we do it or how its done please feel free to contact us through the links on the contacts page,
A note for employers
This site and discussion group on occasion has got me in a certain amount of trouble and caused some ill feeling from managers of various medic provision companies, mostly due to postings from site members criticising a particular company for poor performance, low salary rates or similar such complaints. For the record the editor and owner have no affiliation to any company or individual, with the obvious exception of our employers, so from time to time when employers have disagreements and issues with their employees. PLEASE DO NOT BLAME OUR WEBSITE AND DISCUSSION GROUP. Members post what they think and feel at the time, if it conflicts with your opinion as a manager or company representative then dispute it publicly and openly on the discussion forum, sending threatening emails to the editor and owner serve no purpose and generally will meet with hilarity rapidly followed by a sarcastic reply. The opinions posted by the members are their own and are not the responsibility of the group owner.
A note for advertisers
In general we allow free advertising on the discussion group as a gesture of good will and the fact that it benefits our members, however there is a limit to our store of good will and companies persistently contributing only adverts with no other contribution to the forum will be asked to make a donation for said services or subsequently be banned from posting.
Advertising or link space is available on the website at a small cost and for this you should contact the editor via the contacts page.
Finally I hope you find the site useful and informative, any comments or feedback are always appreciated and again we can be contacted through the links page.
Thank you and Best Wishes
Ian Sharpe
Remote Medic