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clinical strategy in order to support future operations and ensure the centre is ready at a moment’s notice to receive casualties. A common misconception post Herrick was that patient numbers would be reducing across the Centre and it would therefore reduce in size. Admissions have remained roughly the same, albeit the mechanism of injury has shifted.
With Defence engagements committing to 39 countries and troops on the ground in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as 12 UK resilience operations being conducted alongside the routine training commitments through ARTD, RMAS and UKSF, many of the risks remain; our Service personnel will therefore continue to need the very best care, some of which can only be offered at the DMRC.
I would like to close by highly recommending a post to the Centre in whatever capacity as it offers opportunities and experiences that will both develop and provide the foundations for future employment and promotion within the RAPTC.
DMRC RAPTCIs
JOINT SERVICES SCHOOL OF EXERCISE REHABILITATION INSTRUCTORS (JSSERI)
WO2 (QMSI) C Suf eld RAPTC
This year’s Joint Services School of Exercise Rehabilitation Instructors (JSSERI) article will give the opinion of two former RAPTCI students who attended courses 53 and 54. It is hoped the newly quali ed perspectives of the course may answer questions and dispel any myths that surround it. Sgt (SI) Dave Best RAPTC has been quali ed for two months whereas Sgt (SI) LJ Doe RAPTC almost a year. The rst has been assigned to Primary Care Rehabilitation Centre (PCRF) Bovington and the latter to the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC), Headley Court.
Sgt (SI) D Best RAPTC
From leaving the JSSERI
classroom after our rst clinical
anatomy lesson, I honestly asked
myself the question; have I made
the right choice going down the
ERI route? The rst four weeks
was, in my opinion, the most
intense aspect of the whole six
month course. The foundation
module lasts four weeks and
ensures that all individuals on the
course have the ability to take on
and distribute information in four
subjects. It provides you with the
information in a variety of topics from recovery times of fractures to the propagation of a nerve impulse. Something I had minimal knowledge of prior to starting the course.
Following four successful exam results, we then moved onto a week of Force Development. This is a week to nd out more about yourself in regards to the way you best learn and take on information. Previously I had just learnt from constantly re-reading my notes over and over again, but this week opened up new avenues of revision such as re-writing notes, spider diagrams and visual learning such as YouTube, Apps or models. Techniques such as these were used multiple times over my course and ensured that the information taught was actually learnt.
The next phase of the course involved a three week theory and practical teaching on the lower limbs (Hip and below) module. This is where the practical element of being an ERI started to take shape. Having been an AAPTI for 8 years, I classed myself as an experienced instructor and thought I knew my fair share
in regards to the makeup and structure of the human body, but during lower limbs I realised just how wrong I was and how little I knew. I underestimated how much being an ERI would improve my knowledge of the anatomy of the body and also progress me as an RAPTCI. Following successful exam results, we were sent on a three week placement to a Regional Rehabilitation Unit. This allows you a solid period of time where you can put into practise what you have learnt practically on real lower limbs patients. This cements everything that you have been taught and gives you that rst look at the job that you will be adopting in the future.
After a week’s leave it’s straight back in to the classroom for spines (neck to the hips, excluding shoulders) which is once again followed by a three week placement. After experiencing the lower limbs module, the spine component seemed to sink in a lot easier. During this phase we also had a day trip to the University of Central London to view cadavers. I, along with the other 11 on my ERI Course, saw this as one of the best aspects to the course. Seeing the anatomy in such a way emphasised what we are trying to achieve in exercise rehabilitation. The same structure followed for Upper limbs (Shoulders to hands) and before we knew it the nal exams were upon us. This encompassed all elements from the course excluding foundation and a nal patient assessment. Whilst waiting on our results, all 12 members of ERI Course 54 deliberated on how simple we found the nal exams. However looking back six months ago, if you would have put the same test paper in front of us all, it would have looked like a foreign language. This emphasised how much we had learnt in the last six months.
Two months on from nishing the course, I now hold the post as the sole ERI in PCRF Bovington. I am responsible for delivering exercise rehabilitation to the Royal Armoured Corps Phase 2s’, Phase 3s’, permanent staff and two squadrons of short notice ready to move Royal Marines. Being new to the ERI role obviously has its challenges, however, what I have learnt over the past six months has equipped me with the knowledge I require to overcome such encounters. I can now put clinical reasoning into every exercise that I issue out and analyse movements in great depth along with knowledge that will prove invaluable in my career ahead.
Without a doubt, the ERI course has been the most academic course I have experienced in my career, but also one of the