Before our Thanksgiving Holiday kicked off, our Interventions in Biomedical Sciences class got to participate in the University of South Alabama's Mass Casualty Drill. In this drill, the staff at USA present a practice mass trauma scenario for their students to participate in. The scenario is played out from the site of the scene to the emergency room. EMS Students "treat" and triage the patients at the scene before they are transported to the simulation emergency room where patients are treated by nursing and PA students. Our class got the special role of acting as the patients for this drill. We served as the "yellow" and "red" tag patients for the drill, meaning our injuries were the most severe. Each of us wore a card listing our injuries and vital signs for the students to read. We spent a lot of time practicing our medical mulage that would simulate our injuries. We also had to act at our parts, so I would like to believe that our acting and makeup made us convincing patients.
This year's scenario was an explosion from the concession stand at a football game. USA brought out an actual pryotechnic specialist to create an explosion to begin the drill. Once the drill began, we had to lie in our places and wait for the emergency response team to come while fake smoke filled the stasium where we were located. Once the teams arrived we were quickly assessed and triaged. My injuries were a severed femoral artery and a deep wound to the stomach that left my intestines exposed. These severe injuries left the person who originally triaged me to put me down as deceased (I was not fact, not deceased). It was brought back to life soon, though, once the residing staff member took notice of my condition. Once I was reevaluated, I was spine boarded and brought to a traige tent where I received a "tourniquet" for my leg and oxygen with hopes of restoring my low blood pressure to normal. Next, I was put onto an ambulance where I received a sterile dressing for my exposed intestine. Lastly, I was brought to the Emergency Department where I received more "treatment" and it was determined that I would need to be rushed to surgery immediately.
Overall, I had a GREAT time at the Mass Casualty Drill, and I feel I learned a lot about Emergency care, the field of medicine that I am most interested in. I am really grateful that St. Luke's Biomed has given me the opportunity to participate in scenarios like these, and I am looking forward to all of the other exciting events coming up like Trauma Week!
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