Paramedic on Trauma panel

A Nottingham Paramedic is the first in EMAS to join a national panel to offer specialised advice on traumas.

Cherylene Camps, who has worked for EMAS for 16 years, will play a key role in developing spinal injury assessment and treatment as part of the NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) Guideline Development Group.

She has vast experience both on the road and with the air ambulance, as well as being involved in educating her peers and paramedics of the future through lecturing at Sheffield Hallam University. That high calibre has seen Cherylene - who achieved her Masters in Advanced Clinical Practice in 2012 - succeed in her NICE application.

She now travels to London for one/two days a month to take part in the panel and share her expertise and ideas. As well as clinicians from across the spinal injury healthcare spectrum, including a neurosurgeon/spinal injuries consultant, emergency department consultant and radiologist, the panel also includes two patients, one of whom has received treatment for major spinal injuries.

Cherylene said: “I am extremely honoured and proud to be representing ambulance clinicians in helping make a difference in the treatment of patients with suspected spinal injuries. “The biggest eye opener for me, and one that has been truly humbling, has been to hear the stories of the two patients. To understand what they have been through helps inspire me to play an involved role in developing the new guidelines.”

EMAS’ Nottinghamshire South Locality Manager Dave Winter added: “For one of our paramedics to be involved in this for the first time is great. It’s a huge compliment to all of Cherylene’s hard work and great recognition for EMAS too.”