General BroadCAST is a free open access pre-hospital education podcast.
We came up with the idea for General BroadCAST in 2014 when Alex and Josh were at university. We felt there was a gap in the material for UK based pre-hospital FOAMed aimed at students and junior members of staff, which focused on the UK paramedic scope of practice in its entirety, not just the emergency stuff!
The podcasts are short summaries of topics designed to refresh memories, provide links to other resources for further learning and integrate case-based practice examples with the accompanying theory. General BroadCAST is ideal for paramedics, pre-hospital clinicians, EMTs, medical students or anyone looking to improve their knowledge of prehospital care.
The podcast is hosted by Josh, Simon and George, all clinicians actively practicing in emergency and critical care environments.
josh barker
Josh is a dual registered Advanced Paramedic in Critical Care in the UK and an Advanced Care Paramedic in Alberta, Canada. He has a masters in pre-hospital critical care and retrieval medicine and holds the RCSEd Diploma in immediate care.
He has a keen interest in cardiac arrest, leadership and pre-hospital trauma management . He is an assessor for the DipIMC exam and has directed the foundations in trauma care program for several years.
Josh maintains that he makes a mean Mojito but is yet to produce any evidence to support that claim.
Simon Tutt
Simon is an RCEM Advanced Clinical Practitioner in emergency medicine. He has a masters in advanced practice and holds the College of paramedics diploma in Primary and Urgent Care (DipPUC). Prior to this, he has worked frontline as a specialist paramedic in urgent and emergency care.
He has a particular interest in pre-hospital immobilisation and vertigo, as well as pre-hospital education and advancing paramedic practice.
Simon has a number of soap boxes that he likes to get on and can often be found ranting about things that annoy him. Josh and Alex waste a lot of their time trying to coax him down, often with limited success.
GEORGE KEAL
George is a doctor training in anaesthetics and critical care in the South West of England. Before qualifying as a doctor, he spent six years as an Emergency Department Charge Nurse, giving him a unique multidisciplinary perspective on the management of critically ill and injured patients and a genuine appreciation for the contribution of each team member.
His interests include physiology, resuscitation, crisis resource management and the non-technical skills that allow high-performing teams to deliver safe care under pressure. He firmly believes that every clinical question deserves a discussion about ventricular compliance, the Frank-Starling mechanism or pressure-volume loops, even when the patient probably just needs a bag of fluid and a couple of paracetamol.
George is rarely happier than when cooking Sunday lunch for friends and family, although he has been accused of taking roast potatoes far too seriously.
alex nicholson
Alex has an NHS career spanning 15 years working as a Paramedic Clinical Team Leader in both the NHS and the private sector. He’s had a variety of other roles outside of the ambulance service, including in-hospital roles and providing clinical care in HM Prison service.
He has a particular interest in pre-hospital maternity, clinical decision making, human factors and interoperability. Alex has also volunteered as a speaker for the Aortic Dissection Charitable Trust.
Alex believes strongly in his Weber gas BBQ and can often be found arguing their virtues with Josh, who is more of a charcoal guy.