Perform Their Best
To Perform Their Best, Students Prepare for the Worst
GP Tech Paramedic Students Participate in Mass Casualty Exercises
By M. Churchwell
Practice doesn’t always make perfect, but it helps you identify things you did wrong and get better.”
JOE HALL,
- PARAMEDIC STUDENT
In Linda Pledger’s paramedic program at GP Tech, students aren't just learning from textbooks; they're immersing themselves in real-world scenarios to hone their skills and readiness for any situation. Recently, students participated in a mass casualty incident (MCI) training day that included two scenarios: an attack at an elementary school and a tornado at a drive-in movie theater. While no one wants to imagine such tragic situations, Pledger knows they are realities her students could encounter, and she believes in equipping and empowering students for the worst so they can perform their best.
Adding to the already stressful situation was the fact that this event was also an assessment, with current paramedics serving as evaluators who scored students on their performance. All of Pledger’s students are currently EMTs or Advanced EMTs who are working to earn their paramedic license, so they are no strangers to working under pressure.
To conduct this activity, Pledger used Disasters in Seconds: Disaster Drills and Triaging Tiny Traumas, a scenario-based training kit purchased for the EMS program with Carl Perkins funds. What sets this training apart is the commitment to realism. These training exercises aren't just simulations; they are immersive experiences designed to mirror the challenges of real-world emergencies.
One of the primary focuses of these exercises was on pediatric emergency skills. From assessing and treating injuries to comforting scared children, these training scenarios allow extra practice with the unique challenges of pediatric emergencies. Another crucial clinical skill at the heart of this activity is multiple-patient triage during an MCI. Triage requires students to determine the priority of patient care, which can be an emotionally taxing task.
Student Juanita Neeley says, “Doing triage is emotional, especially in pediatrics. It is heartbreaking to have to decide when to move on from one patient to someone else you can help to make sure you save the greatest number of patients. This exercise helps us remember we are there to do our role. Something we say in EMS to help us stay calm and focused is that it’s not our emergency. It’s their emergency. We’re there to help and be the calm in the chaos.”
Equally important as clinical skills are teamwork and communication in emergencies. In a chaotic environment where every second counts, effective collaboration can mean the difference between life and death. Throughout the exercises, students worked in teams, learning to delegate tasks and communicate clearly. Alexie Kraus says, “Communication is very important. Without it, there is mass chaos. We learned on the first exercise that we weren’t discussing where the patient was going after triage, so transport was just grabbing patients and going but not knowing which hospital. After each exercise we did a debrief, and we all agreed communication could be better. We improved it for the second exercise.”
Communication is very important. Without it, there is mass chaos.
- ALEXIE KRAUS,
PARAMEDIC STUDENT
Jonathan Bosserman echoed Alexie’s statements: “Even though we planned for this, communication still broke down. In a real-life situation, it will be even worse. We learned to make sure our roles are well defined and that instructions are concise and clear. Keep it short and simple when you tell your team what you want them to do.”
All students agreed this immersive experience has made them more confident and better prepared to face whatever challenges may arise in the field. Joe Hall says, “You’ll never be able to practice for the real thing and have it go exactly the way you practiced, but the goal is really to have organized chaos instead of just actual chaos. Practice doesn’t always make perfect, but it helps you identify things you did wrong and get better.”
We hope the worst never happens, but we are proud that GP Tech’s paramedic program and Linda Pledger herself are known for high quality, hands-on training that equips our students with the confidence and competence to save lives when it matters most.
