SCC’s Health Sciences Department Holds Mass Casualty Simulation Preparing Nurses for Real Life Emergencies

The Surry Community College 2023 Graduating Class of Associate Degree Nursing students recently met at the Angus J. Tucker Baseball Field for a mass casualty simulation in which they had no advance notice of exactly what kind of emergency would occur.

It all started as an ideal morning. A large group of students, including the nursing students, sat on the bleachers talking and listening to music playing over loudspeakers. Suddenly, the sounds of gunfire and loud shouting filled the air, and “victims” ran through the area screaming and falling to the ground.

The victims, first semester Licensed Practical Nursing students, were identified with paperwork detailing medical stats such as blood pressure and heart rate. Their very realistic looking “wounds,” which included gunshot wounds, third degree burns, impalements, lacerations and severe contusions, were created by the college’s cosmetology students who had spent time that morning preparing the victims by performing moulage, which is a special effects makeup technique to create wounds and injuries in a fabricated environment.

As the simulated disaster unfolded, victims had been prompted on their injuries and given cues on how to act. Victims screamed and shouted for help while nursing faculty and staff, as well as cosmetology students, played the role of distraught parents and family members which added a realistic chaos to the scene. Nursing students had to react quickly to assess the situation, triage the casualties, and stabilize the wounded until Paramedics from Surry County Emergency Services, who also participated in the simulation, could arrive to administer further treatment and transport victims from the scene. Nursing Educators Sarah Ducote and Jessica Lara, who designed and ran the simulation, were on hand to help guide the process and the students. Other nursing faculty and staff also participated in the simulation by providing guidance and acting as family members.

The mass casualty simulation, which is an annual event held for graduating nursing students using varying types of emergencies, gives students an opportunity to demonstrate their critical-thinking skills and apply their nursing knowledge to practice.

If you’d like to learn more about the SCC Health Sciences Program, contact Dr. Yvonne Johnson, Associate Dean of Health Sciences, at (336) 386-3368 or johnsony@surry.edu. You may also visit surry.edu to learn more.