Mock Road Collision Offers Students Insight into Patient Journey
Academics from the University of Nottingham joined paramedics and firefighters this week for a road traffic collision (RTC) exercise to help health science students to better understand a patient’s journey from road to hospital.
The exercise was a collaborative effort between the University, Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue and the East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS). It gave students studying nursing, midwifery, medicine and physiotherapy, the opportunity to see how emergency services professionals respond, make decisions and work together to handle a serious RTC.
The RTC was staged on the University’s University Park campus and was set up as a road accident ‘scene’, with two crashed cars containing ‘casualties’.
The Fire Service attended the scene, assessed the casualties and then extracted them safely from the crashed cars, which included taking the roof off one of the cars. The ambulance service were then on hand to receive the casualties, assess them at the scene before transferring them into the ambulance for transport to hospital.
This is a simulated incident, but we obviously wanted to try and make it look and feel as real as possible to maximise the learning experience for our students. The event went really well and we had some brilliant feedback about how useful the students found it. We are really grateful for the help and continued support of the fire service and ambulance service, without who, the exercise wouldn’t be possible. It was a great example of collaborative working.”
Next week, the students will have a session in the University’s immersion suite where they will see the ‘casualties’ arrive in A&E and then follow their journey as they are assessed, treated and rehabilitated.
Station Manager Jonathan Wilson of Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “We are delighted to be back working with partners at the University of Nottingham and East Midlands Ambulance Service.
“This is an opportunity not only for us to train alongside EMAS outside of an incident setting to be the best when are skills are put into practice, but for medical students to understand more about our work and how we deal with patients on scene.”
Nicola Stewart, Duty Commander in Nottinghamshire at EMAS said: “Today’s exercise has been a great opportunity to test and improve our skills for this type of incident, working with our partners. Thank you to those from EMAS who attended to support the event and we hope the students found it enjoyable and useful for their ongoing studies.”