If you could have scheduled a major, life-threatening medical incident for yourself, Saturday morning at the Town & Country Inn in Ladner would have been the perfect time and place.

That's where some of B.C.'s top ambulance paramedics were gathered to display their specialised life-saving skills at the BCAS Paramedic Games and Education Symposium.

A total of 15 paramedic teams from across the province went head-to-head for both the provincial championship and the chance to attend the Paramedic Games National Championships next March.

“This annual event provides an opportunity for paramedics to learn from each other by sharing best practices in patient care, demonstrating emergency medical skills and engaging in some friendly competition,” said Health Services Minister George Abbott in a press release prior to the event.

The BCAS Paramedic Games are open to both Primary Care Paramedic and Advanced Care Paramedic teams. The competition involves nine unique and challenging scenarios which replicate typical medical, trauma and psychiatric emergency calls. The specific scenarios are based on real ambulance calls and are a fiercely-guarded secret until competition day.

Paramedics were required to recall skills and apply knowledge learned during initial training, continuing education and experience.

“While the scenarios are typical of calls that paramedics respond to everyday, the BC Ambulance Service is committed to ongoing medical education and training so we can continue to improve the care we provide to patients,” said BCAS Chief Operating Officer Sue Conroy in a press release. “The Games provide paramedics with an excellent opportunity to practise their skills under the increased pressure of the competition.”

The teams were judged against a broad range of criteria including their skills related to driving, scene and patient assessment, leadership, treatment and transport. Communication plays a key role in these scenarios because paramedics must interact with a number of people on scene including the BCAS dispatcher, their partner, other first responders, the patient, family members and bystanders.

Most scenarios were allotted just 20 to 25 minutes, so the pressure was on for the teams to showcase their clinical skills and judgement.

The Education Symposium featured a number of speakers who discussed a variety of topics relevant to paramedics including compassion fatigue, defining high quality patient care, crisis intervention and crime scene preservation. The keynote speaker, Dr. Ron Stewart, Officer of the Order of Canada and former Health Minister in Nova Scotia, spoke about ‘EMS Roles, Past and Present.’