World First PhD into Prolonged Field Care:

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After 6 years of collaboration with Dr Myles Harris at UCL, his world first PhD into Prolonged Field Care has just been published, supported by ourselves, the Institute for Remote Area Risk And Medicine and the Royal Defence Medical College. 

Harris, M. (2024) Prolonged field care: a grounded theory of mitigating risks to health in remote environments. PhD thesis, University College London. Available at: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10187416/

Much of this collaboration came from a discussion in the bar at the National Outdoor Centre, Plas y Brenin, after Dr. Harris attended specialist training with us, 6 or 7 years ago (is it really that long ?! - time flies!) and followed on the heels of Dr. Harris’s studies on the relevance of nursing care to expedition medicine. 

This is very much a piece for an academic audience. A published book and several papers are in the pipeline.

Dr. Harris is a former nurse, lecturer/assistant professor, and expedition medic, which makes his views highly pertinent and informed.

As a PhD, it’s a big read - and we haven’t had time to read it yet ! However, having (rapidly) skimmed a number of sections, the value of practical training is highlighted and this mirrors the feedback from the remote area medics and expeditioners/disaster responders who have been through our training. 

We provided data and access to our PFC training cadre and students as well as Prolonged Field Care training as part of the research. This also fed in to a space health related project. Our Prolonged Field Care training is very much civilian remote operation (think back back based expeditions and disaster relief) focused, with the kit delegates would have in the field, rather than volumes of med kit, although we have trained military personnel drawn from all branches of the UK military, with excellent feedback and the results tested. 

We have had our ‘ significant contribution’ to the field of Prolonged Field Care acknowledged by relevant elements from UK military … and the training tested in anger. 

We also put Dr Harris in touch with external sources we thought may be of assistance, including in the US and Europe. Whilst we’re very comfortable with the effectiveness of the longstanding specialist training we deliver in this field it’s incumbent on everyone with expertise to support widening the knowledge pool for the wider benefit, in a spirit of collaboration - that’s our view. That’s exactly why we set up Remote Area Risk International in the first place, to ensure fit for purpose training that had to be accessible and, very very importantly, affordable. Cost is a bar to access. 

Huge congratulations to Dr. Harris in completing his research. Now to sit down and read it…

Very much hoping that this will smooth the way to wider recognition of the value/need for Prolonged Field Care/ Prolonged Casualty Care training  in the civilian sphere as it’s such an obvious skill/training gap for those operating in remote areas - and less remote areas where help may be some time away.