NH Region’s Senior Program is revving up training clinics around the state. Check out the Programs section for details about becoming a Senior. Check out the Senior OEC Events page to see the clinic offerings.
The OEC component of the senior program is a national education opportunity that is offered at the region level. This OEC component allows candidates opportunities to further develop and enhance skills in the areas of leadership, decision making, and problem management of complex emergency care situations that may be encountered in a ski patrol environment. The OEC component, together with the Senior Ski and Toboggan program and elective course requirements is one of the key components in attaining the NSP Senior Alpine designation.
Attainment of the OEC component requires completion of three phases, training clinics, written exercises and a final on-hill evaluation. The program is designed to both develop and challenge candidates’ skills in managing complex multiple injury and multiple patient situations that they can expect to encounter as ski patrollers. Candidates will develop their skills not only as OEC technicians, but also as leaders, problem solvers and emergency scene managers.
The training clinics are a significant and important part of the program. While the clinics are structured to help candidates prepare for a successful final evaluation, they serve a more important objective. During clinics, candidates will be presented with realistic emergency scenarios that are complex in nature and require sound leadership, management and problem solving skills. During clinic scenarios, candidates generally work in teams of three patrollers, one of whom serves as the team leader.
The scenarios will be designed to enhance and develop the management skills of the team leader. It is a constructive process that sharpens the candidates’ skills and confidence, enabling solid reliable performance in complex and normally stressful emergency care situations. Each candidate needs to successfully perform as a leader in four clinic scenarios under the guidance of an OEC Trainer Evaluator to be eligible for the final evaluation. Candidates are encouraged to attend several clinics, where they will have the opportunity to learn from one another as well as experienced trainers.
Under the written component of the program, each candidate is required to write essay answers to two scenario problems and write one new senior level OEC scenario problem. The goal of this requirement is to help candidates become more familiar with elements that need to be considered in performing the leadership and management role.
With commitment to the training clinics, a positive and confident attitude, candidates will be well prepared for success during the final evaluation. The final evaluation day is a busy one. It will take place on the mountain, on difficult terrain that may present challenges. Candidates will work in teams of three, and each team will work through nine scenarios. Each team member will perform as a leader in three scenarios, and candidates are only evaluated in scenarios were they are in the leadership role. The day will start with each team member having the opportunity to lead on one of three practice scenarios. The evaluators will review the results of each practice scenario with the candidates, but these scores will not be counted. This is a warm up to help the candidates relax. After the warm up, each candidate will perform and be evaluated in two scenarios as a leader.
NH Region’s Senior OEC Staff works hard to deliver fun, challenging and educational programs. Enjoy the program, and best of luck during the entire program.
