PROFILE: Stephen Hearns
How can any doctor with a full time job also be involved in expedition medicine, mountain rescue medicine, and event medicine? Rhona MacDonald finds out how one such doctor fits it all in.
Stephen is currently a fourth year specialist registrar in emergency medicine based in Glasgow. He is also a member of a mountain rescue team, an expedition doctor to many weird and wonderful places,and provides medical cover for football matches and musical festivals. Oh yes, he also runs his own company with his wife, Kerry, has just become a dad, and is currently renovating his house. What I want to know is how on earth he finds the time. "With difficulty,"he replies. No surprises there then. He adds,"These activities have been an excellent lesson in time management, as I quickly had to recognise the need for prioritisation. Mountain rescue training is one day a month, and I try to work my on-call rota round this. The trips abroad with the expedition company are fitted into annual leave."
So how did he get to this point? Let's recap
Stephen graduated from Glasgow University in 1993. His interest in travel started with an elective in the United States and a trekking trip to Nanga Parbat in Pakistan. During his first accident and emergency senior house officer post he was asked to be the doctor on a six week youth development expedition to South America. This involved trekking in the Andes and constructing a water tower for a village in the depths of the Venezuelan jungle. At times he realised that he was possibly out of his depth and might have taken on more than he could handle. Fortunately, in the end there was nothing more serious than a few blisters and insect bites to deal with.
After this trip, Stephen went to Australia to work in emergency medicine and intensive care, and on his return to Britain he completed senior house officer posts in anaesthetics, orthopaedics, and paediatrics before being appointed as a specialist registrar in emergency medicine in the west of Scotland. Shortly after moving back to Scotland,he was asked to be the doctor on a rafting trip in western Nepal. This trip involved rafting down a river for three weeks, setting up clinics in remote villages each evening en route. The challenge of providing medical care in a remote area with limited equipment and difficult conditions led him to become involved in mountain rescue in Scotland.
For the past four years, he has been one of the two doctors with Arrochar mountain rescue team,which covers a large area of the west of Scotland. This involves regular training with the team, producing guidelines and protocols, and, of course, participating in rescues. In 1998 a commercial expedition company asked Stephen to join its team of doctors, and since then he has participated as medical officer on trips to the Sahara, Namibia, Khazakstan, and most recently dogsledding in Lapland.
Realising the need for a course on expedition medicine for doctors and nurses, Stephen started his own course in 1998 with help from his colleagues in mountain rescue, expedition medicine, and emergency medicine.
So far he has run four such courses,with an emphasis on small groups, hands-on training, and outdoor scenarios. The success of these courses led Stephen and his wife, Kerry, to form a limited company, Frontline Medics.com, which markets, organises, and runs courses on subjects such as mountain first aid, use of automatic defibrillators, and first aid at work.
For two doctors with no previous business experience, this in itself was an expedition into the unknown. Kerry covers the financial side of the business and the day to day running of the course on expedition medicine.
Over the past few years Stephen has worked as medical officer at several large events. These included football matches at Celtic Park, Hampden, and the Hogmanay celebrations in Glasgow and Paisley. This year he provided the medical cover for the largest event in Scotland--the "T in the Park" music festival.
This event lasts for two days in a rural part of Scotland and is attended by over 100 000 people, about 40 000 of whom spend the night camping on site. If even reading this has made you feel exhausted, you will be pleased to hear that Stephen does sometimes "veg out" and watch television and also admits to having periods when he feels tired and "Can't be bothered." He adds, "I have found that I am a very effective starter of projects but lose drive when it comes to finishing them."
And what does his wife think of all her husband's activities? "I find running the courses tremendous fun," she says, "but sometimes it does get difficult when Stephen is away, especially when he is abroad." Mountain rescue call outs also have a habit of occurring at very inopportune moments, such as during Valentine's night dinner.
So what is Stephen's advice to others who might want to follow in his footsteps?
It is useful at an early stage in your career to realise the potential benefits of using your medical skills for activities other than your`day job.' As well as being great fun, they will form a very important part of your training and personal development. There are loads of opportunities out there to travel and work abroad and for event cover in the United Kingdom.
If you have specific knowledge in an area that is just developing, why not develop a course to gather together expertise and promote standards of care? The skills you will learn, such as project management, leadership, and teamwork will be invaluable to any career."
And his final words of wisdom: "Despite any other activities you are involved in, it is important that you remain focused on your chosen career and maintain the appropriate level of training and care to your patients."
Rhona MacDonald, editor of Career focus, BMJ
studentBMJ 2002;10:1-44 February ISSN 0966-6494
