Emergency, Pre-hospital and Immediate Care iBSc

Lets get your enrolment paperwork sorted 

in 3 easy (if very long) steps!

STEP 1 (November)

The previous EPIC iBSc students have prepared a ‘rough-and-ready’ handover guide called the ‘EPIC Survival Guide’. This includes details of the placements and top-tips on the locations, local contact details, bus travel routes. It is important to review this document before completing the placement preferences in the enrolment survey. Click HERE to access the the student handover document.

It is suggested that you review the draft timetable before completing the enrolment survey. Click HERE to access the draft timetable for the next academic year.

The enrolment survey collects all the information we need including your uniform sizes, your eligibility for pre-hospital indemnity cover, your DBR status and your placement preferences (amongst many other things). This survey involves filling out multiple forms to submit and can take up to an hour to complete. Although you submit your placement preferences at this stage, we cannot confirm placements allocations until your cohort have completed the year 4 ISCEs. Click HERE to access the enrolment survey for next academic year.

STEP 2 (July to September)

The confirmed timetable will be published by the end of June. Click HERE to access. All further updates will be posted on learning central.

The confirmed clinical placement allocations will be published by the end of June. Click HERE to access. This will also include all relevant contact details (i.e. your hospital-based supervisors, your prehospital-based supervisors, your hospital-based undergraduate teams, your Cardiff University personal tutors and the intercalated administration team). All considerations of placement preferences and extenuating circumstances were taken into account. No swaps are permitted.

Onsite student rooms or doctor houses have been reserved for all students based at Wrexham, Bangor and Swansea. All students based at these locations must contact their hospital-based undergraduate managers before the end of July to indicate if they intend on taking up the offer of free accommodation (for either placement 1 or 2). After this deadline, accommodation will no longer be available. When making contact with the hospital-based undergraduate managers, it is advised that you indicate both the placement dates and the suggested key pick-up / drop-off time dates (which can be found in the grey box on the last page of the timetable).

Please create a WhatsApp group with all 16 students called something recognisable (e.g. ‘EPIC 2023/24’) before the end of July. Use this group to elect both an academic and a social representative (see below).

Use the above WhatsApp Group to nominate, discuss and elect an academic representative. The academic representative will have the following responsibilities:

  • to set a meeting with the programme director during the enrolment week to discuss the role
  • to be the voice (and the conduit for any concerns) of the EPIC iBSc student body throughout the academic year
  • to co-ordinate the attendance of the student cohort at all conferences and courses
  • to attend two meeting with all intercalation programme directors per year (can be attended via video conference)
  • to contact the WAST Head of Clinical Operations (Mr Greg Lloyd  – gregory.lloyd@wales.nhs.uk) and co-ordinate the WAST PPE training at a suitable date/time in the EMAC education suite (click HERE to book) before the first day of clinical placement. Copy in the EPIC iBSc Programme Director (Dr Huw Williams – williamsh62@cardiff.ac.uk) to the initial email contact. (DEADLINE: END OF AUGUST)
  • to contact the ACCS Training Co-ordinator (Dr Craig Planello – Craig.Planello@wales.nhs.uk) and then notify the student cohort of all relevant AWSEM / ACCS postgraduate training days as they are published on the website. Copy in the EPIC iBSc Programme Director (Dr Huw Williams – williamsh62@cardiff.ac.uk) to the initial email contact. (DEADLINE: END OF SEPTEMBER)

Use the above WhatsApp Group to nominate, discuss and elect a student social representative. The student social representative will have the following responsibilities:

  • to set a meeting with the programme director during the enrolment week to discuss the role
  • to co-ordinate all relevant conference/end-of-year evening meals and all relevant AWSEM/ACCS training day lunchtime meals (including food allergies)
  • oversee the ‘kitty’ and purchase of tea/coffee/biscuits for all central teachings weeks 
  • to update the ‘Student Handover Guide’ by the last day (DEADLINE: LAST DAY OF PROGRAMME)
  • to compile photos into an end-of-year PowerPoint presentation to family and friends on graduation day (DEADLINE: LAST DAY OF PROGRAMME)

After you have elected both an academic and a social representative, give <07853196316> full administration rights to the WhatsApp group. Then notify (on the WhatsApp group) the identity of both the academic and social representative. The rest of the faculty will be added to the group in September. WhatsApp will be used to contact you throughout the degree programme (before being merged into the EPIC Alumni group once you have completed the programme).

HOSPITAL SHIFTS: It is your responsibility to contact your hospital supervisor. You are advised for just one person from each placement to immediately email your hospital supervisors (for both placement 1 and 2) to introduce yourselves and arrange your departmental induction. Remind your supervisors of your first placement dates (which can be found in the grey box on the last page of the timetable). You may wish to suggest to your hospital supervisor that a local WhatsApp group is set up with your supervisor, your placement buddy and yourself (as per previous EPIC year groups). Discuss with your supervisor how your hospital shifts will be organised. Some departments place you on the SHO rota, whilst in other departments you can organise your own shifts. Weekend, evening and night hospital shifts are encouraged.

PREHOSPITAL SHIFTS: It is your responsibility to organise your own prehospital shifts. As these can be difficult to arrange, you are strongly advised to contact your pre-hospital supervisor immediately (to arrange shifts from your first clinical placement week until the winter break). You are funded for and are expected to complete 22 prehospital shifts in the year (on average 1 per clinical placement and/or research week). You can choose any day in any clinical week to do this, however, you must make sure that the shifts do not clash with any other events (please refer to both the EPIC timetable and the AWSEM/ACCS calendar). Weekend, evening and night pre-hospital shifts are encouraged. If you have any difficulty in contacting your pre-hospital supervisor over the summer period, please refer the student handover document to see if there are any local crews you can contact directly to arrange shifts. If you are unable to arrange any shifts via these two routes, please email Mr Gregory Lloyd (gregory.lloyd@wales.nhs.uk), who is the person leading on your placement within the Welsh Ambulance Service.

RESEARCH DAYS: It is your responsibility to organise your own research days. Although research activity is listed as individual week blocks, you can swap clinical days with research days (keeping both your clinical supervisor and research project supervisors informed). You can choose any day in any clinical week to do this, however, you must make sure that the research days do not clash with any other events (please refer to both the EPIC timetable and the AWSEM/ACCS calendar).

AWSEM POSTGRADUATE TRAINING/STUDY DAYS: Relevant AWSEM training postgraduate programme study/training days will be added to the online calendar with a minimum of 6 weeks’ notice. You are expected to regularly check the AWSEM website and inform your supervisors of all study/training days so that you can be excused from clinical shifts (as per you postgraduate colleagues). The EPIC iBSc programme has funded your attendance at the relevant AWSEM postgraduate training days. The order and dates of these postgraduate ASWEM/ACCS training days have been organised so that they are done before the relevant EPIC module examinations. You are expected to attend all relevant training/study days labelled as joint ACCS and EPIC training days on the AWSEM website.

OTHER EVENTS: Other events organised by the EPIC iBSc undergraduate programme will be added to the pdf timetable throughout the academic year (with new versions replacing old versions on Learning Central). These updates are typically done to include toxicology conferences, ultrasound courses and plain-film interpretation courses which have been purposefully organised for Saturdays immediately following the relevant teaching weeks so that all students can attend. These Saturday events are indicated on the timetable in the heading/title of the relevant week.

To minimise variation in the baseline clinical knowledge / understanding required at the start of the EPIC iBSC programme, please complete the following eLearning modules:

Please note that these eLearning modules works on desktops/laptops only and not on tablets/phones. We advise you use a webbrowser such as ‘Chrome’. 

You will sit an ‘Immediate Life-Support’ (ILS), ‘Paediatric Immediate Life-Support’ (PILS), and ‘Pre-Hospital Trauma Life-Support’ (PHTLS) course during the enrolment week. There is an examination at the end of each course. Your life-support manuals will be sent to the preferred summertime address provided in your enrolment survey. If you need to change this address or if you have not received your 3 life-support manuals by the end of June please email Louise Evans at CTM-UHB Resuscitation Training (Louise.Evans3@wales.nhs.uk).

There are three different types of research product, (1) a field-based project where you will collect your own data, (2) a data-handling project where you will be given access to a database and (3) a literature review or meta-analysis project where you will need to access library services. For logistical purposes it is advised that your research project supervisor is based at the same site that you are based and where the data is being collected/accessed. However, this does not always have to be the case (particularly with literature review or meta-analysis project). There are now two routes available to you:

  • DESIGN A BESPOKE PROJECT: Contact your hospital supervisors to ask if they or one of their consultant colleagues can support a project in an area in which you are interested. This would be a particularly useful route if you aim to collect original data / access a local database as they will know what is locally available / achievable. If you do approach a potential supervisor over the summer regarding a bespoke project, please note that the project must be approved by Dr Bastiaan Hoogendoorn. Once approved, please ensure that your supervisor registers your project using this data collection form and remind him/her/they to select “yes” when asked “Has this project been created in collaboration with a student who will undertake the project themselves?”.
  • AWAIT THE PROJECT LIST TO BE PUBLISHED: Dr Bastiaan Hoogendoorn will compile and email you a list of available projects over the summer period. These projects are also available to the post-graduate trainees, and as such, there is a fast turnover of available projects. We will aim to update the list several times over the summer as more projects are offered (and as some are withdrawn as they are allocated to students/trainees).

STEP 3 (September/October)

The Monday of the enrolment week will be spent completing an ‘Immediate Life-Support’ (ILS) course at the Resuscitation Training Unit at Prince Charles Hospital, Merthyr.

ALL: Bring your ILS manual. There is both in-course assessment and an examination which will be sat at the end of the day.

ALL: Bring £10 so the social representative can purchase tea/coffee/biscuits in time for the first on-site day at the EMAC education suite. 

The Tuesday of the enrolment week will be spent completing a ‘Paediatric Immediate Life-Support’ (PILS) course at the Resuscitation Training Unit at Prince Charles Hospital, Merthyr. 

ALL: Bring your PILS manual. There is both in-course assessment and an examination which will be sat at the end of the day.

The Wednesday of the enrolment week will be spent completing general induction at EMAC Education Suite.

ALL: Remember to bring your own mug and leave it in the student cupboard in the kitchen of the EMAC education suite. Click HERE for directions to the EMAC education suite.

ALL: Before end of day, pick up your pre-hospital uniforms (from your lockers) and 4 pre-hospital bags (from the EMAC store room) as you will need these for the ‘Pre-Hospital Trauma Life-Support’ (PHTLS) course over the following 2 days. The 4 pre-hospital bags must be returned to the EMAC store room the following week.

ACADEMIC REP: Meet with programme director to discuss role.

SOCIAL REP: Bring all tea/coffee/biscuits to EMAC. Leave all items in the student cupboard in the kitchen of the EMAC education suite. Meet with programme director to discuss role.

Thursday and Friday of the enrolment week will be spent completing a ‘Pre-Hospital Trauma Life-Support’ (PHTLS) course at the Resuscitation Training Unit at Prince Charles Hospital, Merthyr. 

ALL: Bring your ILS manual. There is both in-course assessment and an examination which will be sat at the end of Friday.

ALL: Wear your pre-hospital uniforms on both days and bring 4 pre-hospital bags from the EMAC store room. Return the pre-hospital bags the following week.

Receive the latest news

Sign in to receive all the AWSEM Member benefits