Emergency First Response?

[ScubaFreak]

Come one come all....

Emergency First Response Programme.

Instructors! Do you enjoy teaching it? What kind of reaction do you get from your students about the course? :06:

Students! Did you enjoy the course? Did you find it useful? :06:

I'm interested cos I'm about to do an occupational first aid instructors course- for those of you who dont know the Occupational First Aid is soooooooooooo boring and unnecessarily long. :11: And when I become an Instructor I'm gonna try and ship shape the curriculum to be much shorter than it is!! As well as make me some €€€€€

Well that's the plan anyhoo!
Just lookin for opinions!

 

[mstudley]

My opinion is you shouldn't try to change/shorten the occupational first aid course. It's the way it is for a reason.

In my EMT classes we -could- have covered the same amount of material in about 1/2 to 3/4 of the time we spent going over it. We probably could have passed a written and skills test right afterwards also. Would it have prepared me to actually use this stuff in the field when needed? No.

 

[cornfed]

My opinion is you shouldn't try to change/shorten the occupational first aid course. It's the way it is for a reason.

I agree. Most people never put these skills to use so it's best to give them as much inclass exposure as possible. Also, How much experience do you (Scuba_freak) have with emergency care? Unless you're you have plenty of exerience in the field I doubt you can adequately streamline the course without the risk of omitting important information.

 

[Amy B]

Hi,

There's already been a thread on the EFR course, thought you might like it.

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?threadid=64137&s=

 

[ScubaFreak]

My opinion is you shouldn't try to change/shorten the occupational first aid course. It's the way it is for a reason.

So was MFA and PADI opted for EFR because it was more user friendly and still covered the necessary material.

Whats more interesting. Sitting in class listening to someone for about 6-7 hours, or actually participating and being active for the most part of it?

I'm not trying to dumb it down, but i've spoken to a group of 6 people who wanted to do OFA for their company. They ALL agreed that
a) there was too much in it
b) It went on for far to long and they were bored to tears
c) Because they found it so uninteresting they figure they'd barely remember the 15-2 x 4 on the CPR.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, but if it was tailored or re-shuffled to be more interactive and interesting.

Thats all...

sf

 

[mstudley]

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, but if it was tailored or re-shuffled to be more interactive and interesting.

Thats all...

sf

The material itself may or may not be interesting to people however making it more interactive is a good idea. Hands on learning with standard classroom time wins over lecture alone as long as the content covered hasn't changed.

It's also a good idea to talk to other instructors of the class and ask them what they think of the material and the presentation rather than student opinions alone. They say it's "too long" and there's "too much material in it". I imagine it's long enough to cover the necessary material.

Again, your intentions of making it more interactive are great and will probably end up making the students absorb more of the material however shortening the class and taking out content is still not a good idea.

 

[cornfed]

The material itself may or may not be interesting to people however making it more interactive is a good idea. Hands on learning with standard classroom time wins over lecture alone as long as the content covered hasn't changed.

In my opinion, it's the instructors job to present the material in way that helps students learn. Hands on activities and other things to liven the class are a good idea. Removing content because you think it is boring is lazy.

 

[scubabamatxn]

In addition to the good comments above, don't forget that it is important to think beyond the initial course. Unlike everyday dive skills that you repeat on just about every dive, you use the rescue skills infrequently, if ever ( thank goodness). That's why you should retake the course every two years, and do some periodic 'practice' in between. You are almost guaranteed to need the skills when you least expect it.

 

[IlikeItwetPls]

I agree with Scuba_Freak. Too much material makes for a boring class, and less retention of material. Making a class interesting is the key to any subject, but as with the basic scuba class, you need to stick with the basics.

The EFR is suppose to be a basic class. So many educators that create a class tend to add non-essential material to make the class more 'sophisticated', or longer than need be.

IMHO, reiterating the material and skills needed is more important than the fluff.
Personally I have been a paramedic for almost twenty years and have been through numerous classes/courses that have material not needed, but the instructor or certifying authority, for some reason, deems the fluff necessary.

During an emergency situation, most will forget their basic teaching. Reiterate the basics, and chances they will not be forgotton.

Ronnie

 

[underwater daphne]

well if you found it boring it might have been the teacher. i really enjoyed my efr and learnt a lot. of course i don't like the padi brainwash part of the book and video, but the course itself was great. we did a lot of practice, revision and got to ask a lot of questions.
i don't like the book though, coz the numbering is very confusing if you're looking for a page and there is no real reference.
the dvd was no easy viewing since there were too many mistakes and too many repetitions.
but i would never shorten the course. maybe less video and more practical, but it's short enough as it is.