The Outdoor Emergency Care (OEC) program is the required emergency care standard of training for NSP members, and has been developed to ensure they have the skills to provide the appropriate pre-hospital emergency care to individuals who are injured or become ill during outdoor activities. While primarily directed toward the winter activities of skiing and snowboarding, it is also appropriate for Bike Patrols and similar activities.
The OEC program has two primary components. Patrollers must first complete the Outdoor Emergency Care course to become certified as OEC Technicians. They must then complete annual Refreshers designed to reinforce the knowledge and skills of one-third of the course curriculum. At the end of each three-year cycle, a patroller’s OEC Technician status will be renewed. Failure to complete all three refreshers within that period will mean that a patroller is no longer certified as an OEC Technician.
OEC courses are offered by each patrol, taught by other patrollers who are certified as OEC Instructors by the NSP and based on the 6th Edition of the Outdoor Emergency Care textbook. There are no prerequisites, but a candidate must reach the age of 15 by December 31st of the year the course is conducted. Certification requires successfully passing both a written exam and an evaluation of practical skills at the end of the course.
Each year, all OEC Technicians must complete an OEC Refresher which reviews one-third of the information and skills of the OEC program. Refreshers are also taught by OEC Instructors based on the 6th Edition of the Outdoor Emergency Care textbook. In most years, there are three components to an OEC refresher:
All OEC Technicians must complete the OEC refresher each year except new patrollers who completed a full OEC course after May 31st of that year. OEC instructors, including ITs, must also complete a full OEC refresher, as must a patroller who status is “temporarily not patrolling” (previously “inactive”) if they wish to return to “active” status. “Alumni” patrollers must complete each annual refresher if they wish to remain certified as OEC Instructors.
The OEC Refresher Program does not provide a means for a person with previous emergency care or medical training to challenge the OEC course. Additionally, the annual refresher covers a third of the OEC program curriculum requirements and does not meet the requirements for certification under the full OEC program
More information about the OEC program may be found in Chapter 4 and Appendix D of the current NSP Policies and Procedures document. This is available through the “Member Resources / Governance” page of the NSP website www.nsp.org.
Questions? Contact our Region OEC Administrator Ed Thompson.
Office/Area | Name | Contact Info | Notes |
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OEC-IT | Deb Endly C055 Three Rivers |
National OEC Instructor Development Instructor | |
OEC-IT | Sue Hayes C140 Welch Village Ski and Snowboard Area |
Division OEC Supervisor Instructor Development Instructor | |
OEC-IT | Mark Cross |
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OEC-IT | Bob Iverson |
Instructor Development Instructor | |
OEC-IT | Ken Liddell C002 Afton Alps Ski Area |
WR OEC Administrator Instructor Development Instructor | |
OEC-IT | Lisa Borneman C019 Buck Hill |
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OEC-IT | Scott OConnor C002 Afton Alps Ski Area |
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OEC-IT | Jake Meyer |
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OEC-IT | Mark Monroe C055 Three Rivers |
Instructor Development Instructor | |
OEC-IT | Michelle Mouser C098 Buena Vista Ski Area |
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OEC-IT | Mike Nies |
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OEC-IT | Jeff Olsen |
Instructor Development Instructor | |
OEC-IT | Theresa Peters C151 Coffee Mill Ski & Snowboard Resort |
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OEC-IT | Jim Ruzicka C066 Lutsen Mountains |
Region Director Instructor Development Instructor | |
OEC-IT | Dave Schaller C140 Welch Village Ski and Snowboard Area |
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OEC-IT | John Thomas |
Divison Director | |
OEC-IT | Ed Thompson C151 Coffee Mill Ski & Snowboard Resort |
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OEC-IT | Brian Ulrich |
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OEC-IT | Mary Helm C105 Powder Ridge Ski Area |
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OEC-IT | Jim Hutchison C197 Ski Gull |
IT-Candidate | |
OEC-IT | Aaron Hislop C057 Spirit Mountain |
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OEC-IT | MIST Education |
NSP | |
OEC-IT | Chelsi Low C140 Welch Village Ski and Snowboard Area |
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OEC-IT | Dani Rafn C066 Lutsen Mountains |
Certification of new instructors in all NSP programs, including OEC, is done through mentoring by experienced instructors. Presented below are the steps for becoming a new OEC instructor, based on the “Roadmap To Becoming An OEC Instructor” document which is available on the Instructor Resources / OEC Instructors tab of the NSP website www.nsp.org.
All OEC instructors must be members of the National Ski Patrol who are OEC Technicians, having completed the Outdoor Emergency Care course and the annual OEC Refreshers each year. Your classification may be Patroller, Alpine Patroller, Nordic Patroller, or Alumnus.
Once you have been certified as an OEC Instructor, you are expected to actively teach in your patrol’s OEC course and/or refreshers. You must be observed by an IT teaching at least once within each three-year cycle of certification, and you must complete an OEC Continuing Education clinic within that period.
Get a copy of the 6th edition of the Outdoor Emergency Care textbook if you don’t already have one. Read it. Read it again, as many times as necessary to become familiar with what it contains. This textbook presents the information and skills you will be teaching in either an OEC class or a refresher, and you can’t teach something you don’t know and understand.
This can be done as a one-day workshop consisting of academic (didactic) presentations, discussions and practice presentations, or it can be done partially online using information available through the NSP webpage followed by a hands-on demonstration of specific skills. More information is available on the Programs / Instructor Development tab of this Western Region website.
This is usually a member of your patrol. You will be working closely with him or her throughout this process, so make sure the two of you can work well together. You will discuss such things as
This is available in the Members / Document Library / General Docs tab of this Western Region website, or Member Resources / Forms and Documents / Education tab of the NSP website www.nsp.org Hold on to this form and give it to the IT who observes your presentation at the end of the mentoring process.
Discuss with your mentor such things as what those instructors did well or not so well, different learning styles you observed among the students, methods you could use to engage students, and challenges you might face (experienced teachers and instructors might be able to skip this step).
Be sure you record the dates you complete each of these steps in the appropriate boxes of the Instructor Trainee Mentoring Completion Form.
Prepare some lesson plans, review these with your mentor, and teach at least two lessons for your mentor to evaluate. Use the tools and techniques you learned in your Instructor Development course such as the “six- pack.” Think about what might go wrong and ways to deal with these issues. If possible, practice each lesson a few times to get comfortable with the material and your delivery. After each one, discuss with your mentor how it went and get their feedback.
Record the dates and topics in the appropriate boxes of the Instructor Trainee Mentoring Completion Form and note if it was successful or unsuccessful. Your mentor may ask you to teach additional practice lessons if necessary, and when they think you are ready they will complete the “Post-observation Conference with Trainee” information and recommend that you be observed by an Instructor Trainer for final approval.
Have your mentor or the IOR of an OEC class arrange for an Instructor Trainer to observe and evaluate your performance as an instructor. You may select any topic from the OEC curriculum and develop a ten- to fifteen-minute presentation which will be observed by your mentor and the IT. This can be part of an OEC course (but not a refresher), or it may be scheduled for a different time.
Record the date and topic of your presentation in the appropriate boxes of the Instructor Trainee Mentoring Completion Form and note if it was successful or unsuccessful.
After your presentation, meet with your mentor and the IT to discuss it, and if both of them agree that it was successful you will be recommended for appointment as an instructor. You, your mentor, and the IT will sign in the appropriate places on the Instructor Trainee Mentoring Completion Form and record the date.
The Instructor Trainer will make sure that your Instructor Application and Instructor Trainee Mentoring Completion Form are complete and accurate, and is responsible for submitting them to the Region OEC Administrator. After review, they will forward them to the Central Division OEC Supervisor who will then instruct the National office to update your records. You should see a change in your member profile within a few weeks.
Because your instructor application and mentoring are how the NSP trains and certifies new instructors, they take the forms very seriously. Be sure to complete ALL of the parts of the Instructor Application (up to the “IT Evaluation Completed” box) and of the Instructor Trainee Mentoring Completion Form. Missing even a single piece of information on either of those forms can result in your application not being accepted.
Things can go wrong, so it is highly recommended that you keep a copy of both of those forms.
Questions? Contact our Region OEC Administrator Ed Thompson