Doctors on the trail

[HowellingWulf]

My riding buddy is a trauma doctor. (we) He helped a bird who dislocated her shoulder on the Diamond Rush race. Afterwards we bumped into her - seems that the medics administered morphine incorrectly by injecting it directly into her vein. Apparently you are supposed to inject it into the ass cheek or somewhere similar.

 

(we) He also helped a bird who cracked a neck vertebrae on the Spruit opposite River Club.

 

He helps everybody for free when he is riding.

 

Reckon if you can get doctors who are enthusiast they'll do it for free (that whole Hippocratic Oath thing) just give them free entry, coke & a boerie roll at the end...

 

Would be VERY useful at stage races.

[SABC]

The important thing here is that the doctors are actually riding the race and can therefore get to places that the other medics can't. The majority of the medics out there cant fit into the ambulance, let alone on a bike. Granted, you have to be fortunate enough to fall somewhere that the doctor will be close at hand but at the end of the day there is just an extra element of safety out on the course. <?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

What is being spoken about here is a higher level of care that is hopefully on the scene of an accident sooner. If that translates into less people in wheel chairs then I don't see the negative side to it.

[JarradVZ]

Ricky, you can give Morphine IVI (into the vein). It works faster but then you just gotta be careful about dosages.

Agree with Sabc, most trails have sections that are completely inaccessible to anything bigger than a MTB. We are reasonable riders so we just hung back and then bent the cranks a bit as soon as we heard there was an injury ahead.

[crashtestdummy]

It's great to know that there are Doctors and EMS folks out there who care enough to do what you guys do. What a great sport

[Captain Slow]

YES, YES and YES!!!

 

 

 

If you doing it for free, WELL DONE!!

 

 

 

If you are getting paid!! WELL DONE!!!

[Nancy Drew]

I think this is a fantastic idea, provided the doctor isn't 20kays away from the injured patient. I've wondered what would happen to a Sani2C participant if they did have an encounter with a mamba in the Umkomaas valley and only have minutes before treatment becomes crucial.

Just 2 questions:

 

Who attends to the doctor if he/she gets injured and there are no paramedics around?

 

Do I have to be severely injured before you'll administer the morphine? Or could you perhaps do that just before entering Vernons Crooke nature reserve (as a precaution)

 

 

[Ysterman]

Gr8 idea!  I've seen some serious injuries om MTB's ...

 

Hopefully my day never comes, but when it does, I pray that there's a qualified doctor close with equipment & drugs.

 

Tim - is there MTB first aid classes somewhere - I think I need to go on one of those.  Two of my MTB buddies had serious shoulder injuries in the last 8 months ...

[JarradVZ]

Ha ha, you wouldn't believe how many people were begging for some sort of narcotic at the bottom of the Spioenkop climb on Saturday.

The answer to your first question: Doctors never get injured or sick, everyone knows that.

[dirtrider]

It is a very nice to have at races but we must not expect a MD or brain surgeon to be at every race we do . Normaly when I fall it is a case of get the chopper out and I have been very fortunate to get the best treatment from the medical people on track every time . As for the snakes , hippo's and other wild animals , expect to be on your own and if you not immune to snake bikes take your anti-venom with .

[JarradVZ]

Gr8 idea!  I've seen some serious injuries om MTB's ...

 

Hopefully my day never comes' date=' but when it does, I pray that there's a qualified doctor close with equipment & drugs.

 

Tim - is there MTB first aid classes somewhere - I think I need to go on one of those.  Two of my MTB buddies had serious shoulder injuries in the last 8 months ...

[/quote']

1st aid courses - definitely.

MTB 1st aid courses - nope.

[Kranswurm]

We have paramedics at our races in and around Gaborone.Not enough doctors riding mtb.Do dentists and optician's count??

What we have thought of doing is organising first aid courses for our members and subsidise them as a club benefit.

As for morphine in the butt.Never.Only ever had it in the arm.Nice and quick

Just administer enough coedine if you dont have morph.Trouble is the patient has to be able to swallow

[David #7]

Its a brilliant idea, my partner was attended to by one of the roving, racing doctors. Thanks to him we got to the finish and had a good race.

[gremlin]

Great Idea, saw something similar at the Telkom Satellite challenge MTB race where they had 3 Medics/Doctors from ER24 ? that rode with the field for if there was any injuries ect. And just inside Segwati Ranch their was a few medics in there as well. 

[gremlin]

Done First Aid and resque courses when I was still diving, so can help with some things on a route also got some First Aid stuff in my Camelpack.

[Sydd]

I don't really think that this is the best forum for a discussion like this. Clearly from some of the replies, there is a distorted view of the functions of the various medics and doctors. Generalising isn't fair on any of the practitioners. And unless its going to be a specialised trauma doctor, the scope of practice for ALS is more than adequate to assist just about any injury sustained. A doctor's extended scope of practice will mean nothing if he doesn't have the correct equipment for diagnostic and treatment purposes at the time. Nobody has Xray vision. I wonder if you all whip out you phone and ring up your GP when someone is involved in a life threatening accident somewhere?

[Sydd]

And I'm not sure I understand where you say  they are hesitant to administer because they have little experience? Rubbish! If you're an ALS thats what you've trained to do and its in your scope of practice. You know the drugs upside down inside out and are fully aware of dosages, contra indications, indications, administration methods. The drugs on their protocol are used by them on a regular basis and if you believe that that is what the patient needs under the circumstances then you will treat them to the best of your ability. Correct? I think you need to be a bit more responsible in what you're saying, because people will take what you are saying as absolute truth and have no trust in a Paramedic.