LANCASTER, Pa. — Pennsylvania College of Health and Science is teaming up with Lancaster General Health to offer a “mass casualty incident” simulated event to their curriculum.
Students will be given a scenario, and they have to apply what they’ve learned so far to act quickly but make reasonable, sound decisions.
“Teaming up with PA College is a great way to give the students that experience before they even get into the field; some real-life experiences for the students,” said Kendra Yost, emergency management specialist.
The students will be running the mass casualty event from beginning to end, with the first step being a truck crashing into a chemistry lab, causing an explosion. Students will have to call 911, triage patients, transport patients to the emergency room and examine medical needs and injuries.
“A big thing that we do is we always do a 'hot wash' and an after-action review to look at what happened and things we thought went well, things that we can improve on—so it’s just a really big learning experience,” said Yost.