It is officially my favorite week of the year in Biomed! It's Trauma Week! This week was especially exciting this year because I have spent the whole first semester focusing on Emergency Medicine as my field of interest. Each year, the Biomed classes are presented with a mock scenario of a trauma. After the trauma takes place, we spend the week studying how the patient would be cared for from the moment first responders arrived to the day the patient has fully recovered from their injuries.
Day one was certainly the most exciting day this week! Our Biomed class was visited by the Mobile Fire and Rescue Department for a mock scenario of a bombing at a concert. This makeshift bomb caused chlorine gas to be leaked into the crowd, resulting in major health complications for our patient. In this mock scenario, myself and the other four seniors in the Interventions class got the opportunity to be involved in the scenario as well. We received a front row seat in the rescue and treatment demonstration by the hazardous materials crew, paramedics, and fire fighters. We were infected with the chlorine gas and were required to be decontaminated by the fire department. In a method called mass decon, the fire department pumped high volumes, low pressure water out of two trucks, creating a corridor of water to walk through. We were going to get to walk through this wall of water, but with the temperatures dropping to freezing levels, there was an executive decision made to prevent us from doing so. After this demonstration, we were able to speak with some of the fire fighters, paramedics, and members of the hazmat team about their equipment and about their everyday roles in emergency events. Lastly, we were given a presentation about mass decontamination efforts by first responders. This day was a lot of fun (as the photos below certainly suggest) and very informative!
On day two, our class was visited by a few medical professionals from the emergency department University of South Alabama’s hospital. Mrs. Keri Bryant, an ER nurse, coordinated this day for us. Our patient was found to have chemical burns to her eyes, respiratory tract, hands, and other parts of the body. Once our patient arrived at the emergency department, she was put through a makeshift mass decon tent again to ensure that all of the chloride was washed off her body. We also received presentations by some of the USA staff on how treatment would be approached for each of these injuries. We learned about intubation of a patient for respiratory failure, how to flush out hazardous materials from the eyes, and what types of remedies are necessary to heal injuries caused by burns to the hands and other parts of the body.
On day three, Dr Peter Lutz, a pulmonologist with the Pulmonary associates gave a presentation on the effects of chemical burns on the respiratory system and how they may be remedied. Immediate treatment for inhalation injuries may involve airway support, repeated bronchoscopy to clear off dead tissue, treatment of complications such as ARDS or fluid overload, a tracheostomy, intubation, or medications such as heparin or N-acetyl-cysteine. In terms of long-term treatment, it is important to remedy permanent injuries such as asthma and treat any scarring that may occur in the airway. Chemical injuries that occur in patients such as ours from the scenario can cause injury to the lower airway and prove to be more fatal than other types of inhalation injuries. Overall, injuries to the airway require hour-to-hour management, for they can be incredibly serious for a patient. This was an incredibly informative presentation!
On day four, our class was visited by Alicia Lintner, a nurse practitioner for the University of South Alabama's burn unit. She gave us insightful information about the burn unit. We learned that for a standard burn patient, the percent of the patient's body burned is equal to the number of days the patient will be required to stay in the Emergency Department, and that one percent of a person's body is about the size of their hand. There are many different types of burn injuries including those caused by fires, chemicals, electricity, radiation, and hot liquids. The severity of a burn is determined by many factors including the source of the burn, degree of heat of a burn, length of contact or exposure to the burning agent, age of patient, associated injuries, anatomical location of injuries, and pre-existing medical conditions. She spoke to us about the function and structure of the skin in our bodies and how they are disrupted by burns. She also discussed the different "degrees" of burns. Burns can be categorized as 1st-4th degree with one being the least severe and four being the most. First degree burns go through the epidermis, second degree through the dermis, third degree through subcutaneous tissue, and fourth degree through muscle or bone. This was an INCREDBILY fascinating presentation and I would love to hear more from Mrs Lintner in the future.
Unfortunately, due to a scholar's bowl competition, I could not attend the last day of truama week, but I heard that the other students were able to practice cornea repairs (required from burn injuries to the eyes) on grapes. This was definitely my favorite trauma week yet, and I am very sad that I will never be able to participate in another trauma week as I am a senior.
Comments