On Saturday, students from the Brody School of Medicine, ECU School of Nursing, and the Department of Physician Assistant Studies participated in the Interprofessional Triage and Emergency Assessment and Management (ITEAM) Day Mass, hosted by the Brody School of Medicine Emergency Medicine Interest Group. Casualty training activities. October 14th. The training provides a unique opportunity for students from different healthcare disciplines to collaborate and gain practical experience in managing emergencies.
Experts from the ECU School of Nursing, Brody School of Medicine, Department of Physician Assistant Studies and ECU Health EastCare provided students with interactive instruction on procedural skills such as basic airway management, bleeding control and triage techniques. Students then applied these skills in mass casualty simulations at the Brody School of Medicine’s Interprofessional Clinical Simulation Center.
“ITEAM Day is good for promoting collaboration and interprofessionalism among different healthcare providers,” said Stephiya Sabu, a first-year student at the Brody School of Medicine. “It’s important to do this in the event of a mass casualty incident because they can be very stressful, and gaining this experience in advance will be helpful if we encounter such a situation in the future.”
This year’s simulation is a mass shooting. The Office of Clinical Skills Assessment and Education provided simulated patients depicting symptoms and behaviors consistent with injuries sustained in a mass shooting, including confusion and panic.
The ECU School of Theater and Dance used its expertise in impressions and makeup to create lifelike wounds on simulated patients, adding an extra layer of realism to the exercise. The ECU Student Union provides funding for food and materials.
Students participating in the simulation were mentored by a multidisciplinary team of experts who provided feedback throughout the training process. Chuck Strickland, Outreach Coordinator at EastCare, served as an instructor and provided valuable insight into the role that Emergency Medical Services (EMS) plays in a mass casualty incident. Students received education on initial EMS response, patient management, and treatment strategies.
“It’s important for students to understand the role EMS plays in initial patient triage and how we request resources and determine patient destination,” Strickland said. “EMS identifies the number of patients and their severity and then has nurses, physicians and physician assistants provide on-site care to high-severity patients. Students also learned about the role of critical care transport and how these professionals would be involved.”
Nursing students, medical students and physician assistant students share their expertise while working together to promptly triage and treat patients. Both students and teachers emphasized the importance of applying classroom learning to simulated real-life scenarios, emphasizing the practical value of such experiences.
“Recent events in our community underscore the unpredictability of mass casualties and how horrific they can be,” said Lachlan Younce, a first-year student at the Brody School of Medicine. “As a medical student, I try to Understand my role as a medical professional in these situations. Participating in this mass casualty exercise taught me important skills such as patient triage, resource-efficient care, and working with my healthcare colleagues, including personal assistants and nurses) and the importance of teamwork when working together. I am grateful that this ITEAM training experience helped prepare me to become a medical professional.”