In a mock trauma training event, Allied Health students work in a classroom set up to function like an operating room. [Photo by Catherine Pritchard]
FTCC’s Allied Health students were tested in a clinical exercise unlike any they’ve experienced before Thursday — a mock trauma scenario depicting an active shooter situation.
About 60 students from the Dental Assisting, EMS, Pharmacy Technician, Respiratory Therapy, Surgical Technology and Physical Therapy Assistant disciplines participated in the event, which aimed to teach students to respond to real-life situations in a high-stress environment.
“This gives our students the chance to do interdisciplinary work within different fields of medicine and to follow their patient from start to finish,” said Amanda Regan, Director of Clinical Education, Respiratory Therapy.
In Thursday’s scenario, an active shooter, depicted by an FTCC student, entered the on-campus Dental Lab and opened fire on staff and patients before ultimately turning the gun on herself.
The result was a scene full of multiple patients — all students — with varying degrees of injury, from gun-shot wounds to sprained ankles to a cardiac event.
The patients’ injuries were obvious and realistic-looking, thanks to work from Capitol Encore Academy’s theater students, who used stage makeup to create the appearance of wounds and bruises.
In a mock trauma training event, two FTCC EMS students secure a student pretending to be injured to a backboard. [Photo by Catherine Pritchard]
The Dental Assisting students became the event’s first medical responders, performing initial triage while they awaited the arrival of EMS students.
The EMS students handled on-scene care and transported patients to classrooms standing in for three operating rooms, where teams from Respiratory, Pharmacy and Surgical Tech picked up patient care.
At each setting, more students acted as patients’ family and friends or unrelated bystanders, supplying necessary patient information or even unsolicited advice to recreate the expected chaos of a public scene.
Along the way, students who aren’t actively participating in the scene were encouraged to observe their peers in action, seeing the delivery of patient care from start to finish.
“A lot of times, you only get to see your patient in your discipline,” Regan said. “This gives the students a chance to see what EMS does when they get that patient, and then they can see what happens when that patient gets to the OR.”
Emeral Werrell, a Respiratory Therapy student, said the scenario offered a valuable opportunity to learn in a collaborative environment with the help of instructors and other students.
“It’s different doing it at school rather than doing it at a hospital because here we’re with other RTs,” said Werrell, who will work at UNC Pediatrics after graduating this month. “Now we’re going to be doing this by ourselves.”
Thursday’s event marked the return of the mock trauma scenario for the Allied Health programs. The event was held annually before the onset of the pandemic. It will be an annual spring event focused on the Allied Health program’s graduating students.
In a mock trauma training event, FTCC Allied Health students stand around a student pretending to be injured on an operating table in a classroom. [Photo by Catherine Pritchard]
