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Medicine in Motorsport App

October 21, 2015
The FIA publication, "Medicine in Motorsport", was published in January 2011. It was intended as a primer for all things that related to providing medical care at (FIA-sanctioned) motorsport events; from how the various roles and organisations fit togther to explanations of race car safety structures to resuscitation topics, all in the context of a motorsport environment. Edited by Dr Gary Hartstein, it was released in digital format through Amazon and could be read on Kindle devices or as a pdf on any laptop or smartware device.


As a textbook, it had its issues, but it represented a serious attempt amongst others to begin to standardise the medical and rescue intervention being rendered at racing incidents.

And as with all first editions, it is generally only a matter of time and perceived ongoing need before a second edition is released.


Medicine in Motorsport (2nd Edition) has been edited by Dr Ian Roberts and this time the publication has been released as a free app.

iOS users can download it from iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/app/medicine-in-motor-sport/id964491739?ls=1&mt=8

Android users can get it from Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.propeller.fia

If it seems just a little barren at the moment, it's because it kind of is. The plan is to make it a dynamic resource and part of the reason for releasing it as an app is so that portions can be rapidly updated as new information evolves. So the development group has decided that there is enough content to go ahead and release it now, with updates sent out as new sections are added or modified.


At first glance, it looks promising. The content is organised into "Themes" or "Topics", making it fairly easy to quickly find what you are looking for, though again the content is currently a little sparse so it will be interesting to see what happens as this gets filled. There is a search function, so hopefully finding items will not get too cumbersome as more content is added.







Each chapter is quite well presented, with a short summary of the chapter with is then carved up into manageable sections. The text is easy to read, is kept fairly short and most chapters have included a reasonable range of images. There are even some videos.


I haven't read it all yet, so I can't really provide a review. Also, I've written the "First response - Rally" chapter (yet to be released on to the app) alongside Australian motorsport paramedic Jeff Woods, so you could argue a conflict of interest. However, please feel free to leave comments below, even if it is just to slate my chapter; and let me know if you want me to pass anything back to the app editorial group. It would be great to get some feedback.
 

A medical publication from the FIA Institute (and a survey)

September 4, 2015
It's been an interesting and busy few months and I'll get into all that has been happening in due course. But let's start off with this.

The FIA (Federation International d'Automobile), like any organisation that sets itself up as the prime authority in a given field, cops a fair bit of criticism for many things. That said, within and around the organisation there are plenty of smart, progressive individuals. (I say "around" because not everyone who works with the FIA is necessarily an FIA em...

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SMACC 2015 - Chicago

July 17, 2015


So, SMACC (Social Media And Critical Care) was great. This is the third year that this tribe-inclusive, hierarchy-leveling conference has been run. The first two were in Australia (Sydney in 2013 and the Gold Coast in 2014) and this year SMACC crossed the Pacific to the McCormick Place Convention Centre in Chicago.



If you went, then you'll know what I'm talking about and you are probably just coming down off the high. If not, well, you missed out. There was content for the pre-hospitalists, em...

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Dr. John Hinds

July 6, 2015


John Hinds was an anaesthetist, an intensivist, a prehospitalist and a motorsport doctor in Northern Ireland. He was also a talented educator, a pragmatist and extremely witty. And John was a friend.

I first met John at the SMACCGold conference, after his "Cases from the races" talk and recorded a podcast with him and Brent May. As with many people at SMACC, I had had conversations online with him before I met him in person. My last contact with John was at this year's SMACC conference, in Chi...

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Article review - Concussion

May 8, 2015


Concussion has been a big topic over the past two years or so and it has certainly featured in a couple of posts on this website. There is a lot about it that is still poorly understood.
  • What is the pathophysiology?
  • Does second impact syndrome really exist?
  • Does chronic traumatic encephalopathy really exist?
  • What is the best marker of readiness to return to active competition?
There is a very helpful review article in the Seminars in Neurology journal written by Meeryo, Chloe and Giza, titled "Dia...

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Motorsport Safety Reseach Scholarship

April 23, 2015


Well, this is a bit new. If you are a doctor or engineer in training, are thinking about how to combine this with your interest in motorsport and you have somewhere between nine and eighteen months spare to fill with something a bit different, the FIA are offering a scholarship that you might want to think about.

Here's the deal. The FIA are looking to churn through their existing research and maybe get a few new projects going. So they are offering a scholarship position with the newly establ...

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FIA Institute Medicine in Motorsport Summit 2014

December 17, 2014


Well, I'm back in Sydney after 5 days in Doha, Qatar, attending the FIA Institute's Medicine in Motorsport Summit, which is run parallel to the FIA's Annual General Assembly. The AGA is where the year is reviewed and the technical specifications and regulations for the next year's season are finalised. It finishes off with the prize-giving ceremony for the various championship categories, including Formula One, World Rally Championship and World Endurance Championship.

Similarly, at the biannu...

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FIA Serious Accident Study Group - Singapore October 2014

December 8, 2014
Running targeted workshops has become a bit of a favourite activity of the FIA Institute. This is a good thing, as they have amassed a wealth of information from the variety of motorsport categories that they sanction and there are some very bright and keen people working with them.

At the beginning of the year there was the Extrication Workshop held at the 24 Heures Du Mans circuit. The Serious Accident Study Group was held in October in Singapore and only a few weeks later there was the Pan...

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Check your calendar and pack your suitcase

November 4, 2014
It's been a while since the last post, but there's been no dawdling. I've moved house (Still waiting for the phone company to get the WiFi sorted out so I'm writing this at the local library), been through the WRC Rally Australia event (photos and learning points will be the next post) and been to Singapore for the inaugural FIA Asia-Pacific Serious Accident Study Group (Again, post coming soon).

And it's not over yet. So this post is a quick summary of four upcoming events that I think are w...
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Critical decision making

August 21, 2014
For those of you who don't know him, Dr. Scott Weingart is a New York based emergency and critical care physician. He is a powerhouse of education and training in this specialist area, writing books and articles and speaking at top end conferences and workshops. He is someone I have gotten to know through various contacts and consider him a friend.



Scott runs his own site, called EM Crit, which is a fantastic resource, choc full of everything critical care, from procedures to cutting edge conc...

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