Building an ‘extreme career’ from the RMC to CCP to Mountaineer with Wayne Auton

World Extreme Medicine Podcast

In this conversation we talk with Wayne Auton about his journey through three domains of practice; the military, pre-hospital care, and mountaineering. We examine the concept of High Performing Teams (HPT) in all three domains and some of the features of HPT that unite the different practices.

Wayne initially joined the military/Royal Marine Commandos and through time specialised as a sniper. He then transitioned through into pre-hospital care as a paramedic, progressing on to become a Critical Care Paramedic or CCP within a different high-performing team and pre-hospital HEMS service. Finally, we look at his recent transition to mountaineering and alpinism in Chamonix, French Alps. We examine some of the uniting HPT concepts around kit husbandry, homeostatic teamwork, community, debrief, commitment to continual improvement, and feedback. We also examine the attention to detail and mentoring as part of working within these teams and the vital concept of adaptation to the environment and situational awareness required to transcend disciplines.

Wayne has also published a blog around his experience with high-performing teams (Espirit de corps). This blog and his reflections on the ‘position of yes’, the ‘dislocation of expectation; and ‘cohesion within homogenous teams’ can be found here https://bio.site/WayneAuton

In the session we examine:

1. Wayne’s journey through the RMC and his role as a sniper.
2. Some of the fundamental elements Wayne took from being involved in a high-performing team within the RMC.
3. Wayne’s transition into the ambulance service and key elements he brought through from his time in the military.
4. Working within a pre-hospital high-performing team and the fundamental elements of these teams.
5. Wayne’s latest transition into the French Alps, climbing, and again being part of a high-performing team.