Inter-county team medics take part in pilot medical emergencies course 

By John Harrington

The GAA’s Medical, Scientific, and Welfare Committee, in conjunction with the Gaelic Athletic Medical Association (GAMA) recently hosted the inaugural Level 3 Gaelic Games Advanced Medical Emergencies (GAME) Course for inter-county medics in Croke Park.

The course is designed to equip GAA inter-county doctors, physiotherapists and athletic therapists with the knowledge, practical skills, and decision-making abilities to manage acute medical and traumatic emergencies that occur in the high-intensity environment of Gaelic games.

An emphasis is placed on pitch-side assessment, initial management, safe extrication, and effective communication with voluntary and statutory emergency services.

Professor Adrian Murphy, team doctor with the Cork senior hurlers and a Consultant in Emergency Medicine at Cork University Hospital, was the Medical Director for this first iteration of the GAME course.

He believes the course will arm participants with the knowledge required to successfully deal with the wide array of medical situations they could be faced with at a match or training session.

“The purpose of this course ultimately is to ensure that every inter-county Gaelic Games fixture has a skilled and competent medical team to provide the best possible response for players in the event of a medical emergency” says Professor Murphy.

“Level 3 is aimed at inter-county medical personnel so doctors, physios, and therapists. Our hope is to expand that to include a Level 2 course which would be specifically for club medical personnel.

“The important facet to this course and the philosophy that underpins it is that we're marrying sports medicine with emergency medicine and pre-hospital care.

“There are some nuances to Gaelic Games that we don't see in other field sports.

“Certain aspects of the course are tailored towards hurling and camogie, for example, which you don't get in other pre-hospital emergency care courses.

“The ultimate vision for the course here is that every GAA venue in the country should be the safest place in the community to have an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest where we have a guaranteed response from participants that have undertaken the course.”

The vision is that this course will complement a future Level 2 iteration, and a Level 1 Basic First Aid course (the pilot of which has already commenced through a collaboration between the GAA, LGFA, Camogie Association and the RNLI) targeted chiefly at non-medical club volunteers.

By the end of the Level 3 GAME Course participants will be able to:

• Perform structured on-field assessment using the ABCDE approach.
• Manage airway, breathing, and circulation in a pitch-side environment.
• Recognize and manage sports-specific injuries such as concussion, spinal injury, fractures, and cardiac arrest.
• Demonstrate safe and effective extrication and immobilisation techniques.
• Use automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and emergency medical equipment.
• Coordinate with voluntary and statutory Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and provide accurate handovers using the ATMIST format.
• Implement pre-match emergency action planning and communication protocols.

GAA Medical, Scientific, and Welfare Committee Chairperson, Sean Dunnion, hopes the successful piloting of the Level 3 GAME Course will be built upon in the coming years.

“The GAA's Medical, Scientific and Welfare Committee are delighted to support this initiative, which aims to help inter-county medics with their ongoing learning and development,” said Dunnion.

“The combination of lecture-based content, along with Gaelic games-specific scenario case studies has been well received, and the ambition certainly is to try and expand the offering of this course to meet demand into the future".

GAME Course Faculty

Prof. Adrian Murphy: Course Medical Director; Consultant in Emergency Medicine, Cork University Hospital; Cork Senior Hurling Team Doctor

Dr. Sean Moffatt: General Practitioner; Mayo Senior Football Team Doctor

Dr. Ronan Kearney: Consultant in Sports & Exercise Medicine, Blackrock Clinic

Dr. Stephen Gilmartin: Consultant in Emergency Medicine, Sligo University Hospital

Dr. Simon Walsh: Consultant in Emergency Medicine & Retrieval Medicine, Cork University Hospital

Dr Martin Mc Intyre: Senior Physiotherapist, Mayo Senior Football Team

Mr. Paul Traynor: Helicopter Emergency Medical Service Advanced Paramedic, National Ambulance Service

Mr. Eoghan Tuohey: GAA Player Welfare Manager

Mr. Mark Caulfield: GAA Games Administration & Player Welfare Graduate