Douglas Chamberlain

Chamberlain was born in Cardiff in 1931. His father was a coal merchant. He was not successful during his school years; he would frequently completely fail spelling and writing exercises. His parents sent him to board at Ratcliffe College, a private school near Leicester. There a school master realised he was very intelligent but had an 'inability to comprehend the written word'; a condition now called dyslexia. The extra help he was then given meant he passed the entrance exam to Queens' College, Cambridge, to study medicine.{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.resuscitation.2006.09.009 |pmid=17240511 |title=Douglas Chamberlain CBE DSc (Hon) FRCP FRCA FACC FESC—A man for all decades of his time |journal=Resuscitation |volume=72 |issue=3 |pages=344–349 |year=2007 |last1=Baskett |first1=Peter }}

Difficulty telling left and right, and a preference for rowing over the dissection room, almost caused him to fail on anatomy. A case of mistaken identity meant he passed; the external examiner wrongly thought he was the son of a famous physician and passed him. He graduated from the university in 1953 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA), that was later promoted to Master of Arts (MA). He then studied at Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital, qualifying as a doctor in 1956{{cite journal|url=http://www.qmul.ac.uk/alumni/publications/blc/blc_spring04.pdf |title=From invalid transport corps to paramedic practitioners |last1=Chamberlain |first1=Douglas |journal=Barts and the London Chronicle |year=2004 |volume=6 |issue=Spring 2004 |pages=18–21 |issn=1470-2282 |last2=Baskett |first2=Peter |last3=Willis |first3=Michael |url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006103529/http://www.qmul.ac.uk/alumni/publications/blc/blc_spring04.pdf |archivedate=6 October 2014 |df=dmy }} as Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MB, BChir).

During his pre-registration year, 1957, Chamberlain remained at St Bartholomew's Hospital. He first undertook a nine-month appointment as house physician then three months as a house surgeon. His career direction in medicine rather than surgery was confirmed by a disastrous house surgeon rotation. He had been described by his surgical supervisor as the worst house surgeon he had ever encountered.

Chamberlain served as a Senior House Officer at Royal United Hospital (RUH) in Bath and then took a role as Resident Medical Officer at the country branch of the National Heart Hospital in Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire while studying for the MRCP diploma.

He entered national service on 5 January 1959, commissioned into the Royal Army Medical Corps, British Army as a lieutenant (service number 459368) and was posted to the British Military Hospital (BMH) in Iserlohn.{{London Gazette |issue=41616 |date=23 January 1959 |page=643 |supp=y }} He was promoted to captain (acting Major) on 5 January 1960 and posted to BMH Hostert in Rheindahlen.{{London Gazette |issue=41919 |date=1 January 1960 |page=180 |supp=y }}

After a short spell working in chest medicine at the Brompton Hospital, Chamberlain returned to Cardiology at St Bartholomew's in January 1962 as a research Registrar and at the end of the tenure was promoted to Senior Registrar in December 1966. He served 2 years of the 4-year posting before taking a year's fellowship in Massachusetts General Hospital in 1968 working within the orbit of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, a subdivision of the Department of Cardiology before returning for a final year at St Bartholomew's. Much of his research centred around the sympathetic nervous system, beta-blocking drugs, and pacing.

He worked at the Royal Sussex County Hospital between 1970 and 1991{{cite book | title=Our Hospital Our History: Voices from Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals | publisher=Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust | pages=23}} as a Consultant Cardiologist, and as Honorary Consultant subsequently.{{cite web|title=Douglas Chamberlain|url=http://www.bsuh.nhs.uk/work-and-learn/library-services/our-hospital-our-history/douglas-chamberlain/|publisher=Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals|accessdate=30 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006162504/http://www.bsuh.nhs.uk/work-and-learn/library-services/our-hospital-our-history/douglas-chamberlain/|archive-date=6 October 2014|url-status=dead}}

Chamberlain, together with Peter Baskett, trained ambulance personnel in resuscitation from late 1970.{{cite web|title=Patients and staff reunited in SECAmb's second survivors' event|url=http://www.secamb.nhs.uk/about_us/news/2012/survivors_2012.aspx|publisher=South East Coast Ambulance Service trust|accessdate=29 December 2012|date=26 September 2012}} This was a pivotal moment in the development of the paramedic profession and Chamberlain and Baskett's work here and subsequently are acknowledged as the naissance of paramedics in Europe. Paramedics are now acknowledged as an autonomous and regulated profession and are still recognized for their abilities in cardiac care - as was first discovered by Chamberlain when teaching ECG recognition and cardiac care to nurses, doctors and ambulancemen from the 1970s to the mid-1990s in Brighton.{{Cite web |url=http://www.bhf.org.uk/html/The-first-paramedics-are-trained-in-England.html |title=The first paramedics are trained in England - British heart Foundation - 50th anniversary |access-date=13 July 2014 |archive-date=10 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130310033202/http://www.bhf.org.uk/html/The-first-paramedics-are-trained-in-England.html |url-status=dead }}{{full citation needed|date=September 2018}}{{cite journal |doi=10.1136/emj.19.1.66 |title=Recognition of ST elevation by paramedics |journal=Emergency Medicine Journal |volume=19 |pages=66–67 |year=2002 |last1=Whitbread |first1=M |issue=1 |pmid=11777883 |pmc=1725764 }}

During this period, Chamberlain developed his "10 Rules of a normal ECG", a foundation for ECG interpretation used all over the world to this date.

{{cite web | url=https://www.ambulancetechnicianstudy.co.uk/rules.html | title=ECG Rules }}

{{cite web | url=https://www.ambulance-life.co.uk/story/2015/09/30/professor-douglas-chamberlain-named-as-the-inaugural-larrey-lecturerrnrn | title=Professor Douglas Chamberlain named as The Inaugural Larrey Lecturer }}

{{cite journal |doi=10.12968/jpar.2016.8.6.276 |title=Celebrating an evening with men of destiny |journal=Journal of Paramedic Practice |volume=8 |year=2016 |last1=Davis |first1=David |issue=6 |page=276 }}

Chamberlain maintained a major interest in resuscitation and prehospital care, and played a role in the development of the European Resuscitation Council and the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation. Well into his 80s, Chamberlain was an Honorary Advisor to South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust and London Ambulance Service NHS Trust and was 'available any time of the day or night to take calls from paramedics'.

He co-edited Cardiac Arrest: The Science and Practice of Resuscitation Medicine, a reference book on advanced life support and resuscitation medicine. It was winner of the 2008 British Medical Association prize in Cardiology.{{cite web|title=Cardiac Arrest|url=http://www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/isbn/item1172474/?site_locale=en_GB|publisher=Cambridge University Press}} He was Editor Emeritus of Resuscitation, the official journal of the European Resuscitation Council,{{cite web | url=http://www.resuscitationjournal.com/edboard | title=Editorial Board | publisher=European Resuscitation Council | website=Resuscitation | accessdate=29 December 2012}} and was author or co-author of over 200 papers.

Chamberlain died on 21 May 2025, at the age of 94.{{Cite web |date=2025-05-24 |title=Douglas Chamberlain RIP – He didn’t just save lives. He transformed how we save them |url=https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2025/05/24/douglas-chamberlain-rip-he-didnt-just-save-lives-he-transformed-how-we-save-them/ |access-date=2025-05-25 |website=Brighton and Hove News |language=en-US}}

In the 1988 New Year Honours, Chamberlain was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).{{London Gazette |issue=51171 |date=31 December 1987 |page=7 |supp=y }} In June 1989, he was appointed Officer of the Order of St. John (OStJ).{{London Gazette |issue=51767 |date=16 June 1989 |page=7104 }} He was also a Knight of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great (KSG){{cite web | url=http://www.papalknights.org.uk/assoc-members.html | title=Association Members | publisher=Association of Papal Orders in Great Britain of Pius IX, Saint Gregory and Saint Sylvester | accessdate=30 December 2012 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206024623/http://www.papalknights.org.uk/assoc-members.html | archivedate=6 February 2012 | df=dmy-all }} and an Honorary Fellow of the College of Paramedics.

Chamberlain was made an honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) by the University of Sussex in 1989, Hertford in 2003, and Coventry University in 2008.

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Category:1931 births

Category:Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge

Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire

Category:British cardiologists

Category:Medical doctors from Cardiff

Category:Alumni of the Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital

Category:Officers of the Order of St John

Category:Royal Army Medical Corps officers

Category:People educated at Ratcliffe College

Category:Medical doctors from Brighton

Category:2025 deaths