Congratulations to Dr. Angharad Spencer for winning one of the first annual Right Fit HIPster Awards.

Dr. Angharad Spencer received her medical degree from the University of Sheffield and is a current registrar at Manchester Royal Infirmary.  She is being recognized for the development, implementation and study of two training programs for pre-hospital emergency responders in Malawi.

Dr. Spencer has spent considerable time working in Malawi while training in emergency medicine. As her skills developed she found the disparity between care between the UK and Malawi increasingly troubling. Working in a rural district of Malawi, she found there was no formal pre-hospital care and that informal pre-hospital care was being done by police or lay people leading to long transport times and devastatingly poor patient outcomes. She researched how long income countries deal with trauma and pre-hospital care and created two training programs tailored to local practice. One training program was for the police who attend the major road accidents and act as an ambulance service transferring to hospital and another for lay community first responders, who often supply initial first aid.

Along with paramedics working locally and community leaders, Dr. Spencer trained 100 people. Additionally, she identified four key individuals to be part of a “teach the teacher” program to maintain the learners skills and continue further rounds of training. There have been many positive reports of improved patient treatment and outcomes. Dr. Spencer plans to formally assess the ongoing education needs and outcomes when she returns next to Malawi.

Dr. Spencer has been described as “steadfastly dedicated to her patients and healthcare improvement, and is particularly passionate about the health of marginalised populations, feminism and social justice.”

Congratulations to Dr. Spencer, an amazing FemInEM!