Screams, groans and cries of “Where’s my mom?” “My arm is missing!” and “It hurts, it hurts!” permeated through sounds of explosions, sirens and shouts on Surry Community College’s normally peaceful campus on April 25.
The chaotic scene was part of a planned Emergency Preparedness Mass Casualty Simulation drill for the soon-to-graduate, second-year nursing students who are completing the Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) Program at the college.
Planned and supervised by nursing instructors Sarah Broadstreet and Jessica Lara, the mass casualty simulation is an annual event designed to provide a realistic opportunity for nursing students to practice critical thinking skills in a high-stress emergency environment.
To make the event even more realistic, cosmetology students, under the supervision of Wendy Billings, performed moulage — the art of using special effects makeup to replicate injuries in simulation-based education — on first-semester Practical Nursing (PN) students. These students became “victims” for the simulation.
The simulation started with cosmetology and first-year nursing students acting their parts by running in the “Surry Community College Marathon.” As the runners headed towards the finish line of the race, a loud explosion cracked the air, along with subsequent explosions and a large fire at the edge of the training field simulating bomb explosions.
“Victims” of the simulated bombing suddenly flooded the field, screaming and crying for help. The victims had been prompted on their injuries and given cues on how to act. Nursing faculty and staff played the role of distraught parents and family members, adding realistic chaos. One student had been instructed to speak no English during the drill, so nursing students had to find a translator to help them be able to provide a proper assessment of their patient.
Simulated injuries created on the victims by the cosmetology students consisted of severe burns, wounds with heavy bleeding, bruises, wounds with protruding glass shards and shrapnel, and even a simulated limb amputation with arterial bleeding. The second-year nursing students, who are scheduled to graduate this month, are brought into the chaotic scene of screams, sirens, explosive noises and confusion, had to react quickly to assess the situation, triage the casualties, and stabilize the wounded until paramedics from Surry County Emergency Services and the Dobson Rescue Squad arrived to administer further treatment.
Following the simulation exercise, nursing faculty held a debriefing session with the students to discuss what went well during the simulation and opportunities to improve.
According to SCC Nurse Educators Broadstreet and Lara, the simulation is a significant step in training for the student nurses. They noted, “Taking action, even if it’s not perfect, is better than doing nothing at all. In the fast-paced and often unpredictable environment of healthcare, being able to act swiftly and confidently can make a significant difference in patient care and outcomes.”
The second-year nursing students participating in the simulation are given no advance notice of what type of situation they are entering, and they are given few supplies. Their goal, according to student Megan Underwood, is “to take care of as many people as possible, as quickly as possible.” Adding that it’s been a highlight of the program, she adds, “We’ve been waiting for this all year.”
About the simulation, Cosmetology Program Director Robin Minton said, “We always look forward to collaborating with our nursing program. Our beginning cosmetology students do moulage and love it. They view it as our best project of the year.”
Wendy Billings, cosmetology instructor, said, “I look forward to this every year. I love it. It teaches our cosmetology students to be creative, and it provides degrees of realism for our nursing students.
To learn more about the SCC Health Sciences Program, contact Dr. Yvonne Johnson, dean of health sciences, at 336-386-3368 or johnsony@surry.edu. To learn more about SCC’s cosmetology program, contact Robin Minton, director of cosmetology, at 336-386-3570 or mintonr@surry.edu. Visit surry.edu to learn more. To watch a video of the simulation, go to youtube.com/surryedu.
Most Popular
Comments / 0