KETTERING COLLEGE IPE SIMULATION CENTER TAKES PART IN MASS DISASTER EXERCISE
Containment booms sweeping the Great Miami River … Paramedics treating a patient in cardiac arrest … An American Red Cross shelter receiving displaced community members … These were all part of the drama on Sept. 20, 2018, as a mass disaster simulation unfolded in Hamilton, Ohio. Kettering College played an important role in the first aid shelter, where staff from the College’s Interprofessional Education (IPE) Simulation Center provided training using a high-fidelity manikin, a lifelike model of the human body used in medical education. More than 200 people from 50 agencies and organizations took part in the simulation, which was hosted by the Butler County local emergency planning committee. The event gave first responders and community partners an opportunity to simulate an emergency response to a catastrophic pipeline release of Jet-A kerosene into the river. Participants were tested in five operational areas: unified command; water and hazardous material response; emergency medical services; mass care sheltering; and hospital care.
personnel have to be prepared,” Smith said. “We love to support local efforts to train first responders because we want our community to have the very best care.” The IPE Simulation Center at Kettering College provides more than 400 clinical simulations a year, mostly for students from nursing, respiratory care, physician assistant, and other programs. Health care professionals from Kettering Health Network hospitals also take part in simulations to hone their clinical skills. Each spring, the IPE Simulation Center presents a mass disaster simulation for the entire school. It is the center’s biggest, most logistically challenging event. As many as 200 Kettering College students take part, some playing victims and others medical personnel. In June 2019, about 65 senior nursing students participated in a mass casualty triage and chemical exposure decontamination drill at the center with the assistance of the Kettering Health Network emergency outreach faculty.
Popcorn donated by a local movie theater was used to simulate the kerosene spill, and large containment booms collected the debris. During this phase of the exercise, first responders performed a water rescue using a manikin. Meanwhile, the American Red Cross established a simulated mass care shelter for community members displaced by the chemical spill. In the first aid shelter, Assistant Professor Miranda Dickerson, MS, RN, simulation consultant, and Phillip Smith, EMT-P, simulation technician, used one of the College’s manikins to simulate a worker who had been overcome by vapors. The manikin was programmed to exhibit symptoms of severe hydrocarbon toxicity, which progressed to cardiac arrest. Throughout the exercise, groups of EMTs and paramedics entered the shelter, did triage, and provided medical care. After each group F E A T U R E D completed its assignment, the manikin was reset for the next group.
1 | The event simulated an emergency response to a catastrophic release of Jet-A kerosene into the river. Here, responders perform a water rescue using a manikin. 2 | Miranda Dickerson and Phillip Smith lead a simulation exercise in the first aid shelter using one of Kettering College’s high-fidelity manikins. 3 | The manikin simulated a worker who had been overcome by vapors. Groups of EMTs and paramedics provided medical care to the manikin during this simulation.
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“It is exciting to see how learners react to the manikin and the medical scenario,” said Dickerson, who is the lead instructor for nursing simulations at Kettering College. “Most are nervous but recognize that these events are a great opportunity to assess strengths and identify areas for improvement. I always tell learners, ‘This is where you want to make mistakes. If the manikin dies, I can resurrect him all day long.’”
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Afterward, participants from each operational area met to debrief, and the planning committee later published a 33-page after-action report. “Whether it is a building collapse, explosion, chemical spill, or mass shooting, emergency medical
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