YORK COUNTY, Pa. — Emergency department doctors got some specialized training Tuesday in York County to learn about emergency treatment in the field.
The 15th annual EMS Skills Day hosted 23 emergency medicine residents, interns and medical students from WellSpan York Hospital.
Throughout the day, participants got hands-on experience in different field situations like vehicle extrication, mass casualty and hazmat response. EMS workers demonstrated the difficulty of providing care with limited resources.
For example, participants practiced giving CPR in a moving ambulance that simulated weaving through heavy traffic.
“If something’s not done, it’s not that [EMS workers] were screwing around or lazy at all. We’re knee-deep in stuff,” said Don Deardorff, EMS Chief at Capital EMS in West York.
Organizers say the day helped young and future doctors work better with first responders to improve medical care for patients.
“They understand the conditions that the pre-hospital folks are working in, the weather, the heat, the equipment they have to use, the weight of the equipment, and the limitations that are out there prior to coming to the hospital, which has a lot more resources,” said Dr. Thomas Yeich, an emergency physician at WellSpan York Hospital.
Participants also got to experience what it’s like to evacuate a patient with a possible neck injury. One student played the patient while others applied a cervical collar and transferred the patient to a backboard.
“Putting a C-collar on myself and seeing how claustrophobic I felt gives me an insight on what the patient is feeling so that I’m able to treat them better and hear them and give them more empathy,” said Dr. Marina Mekheal, an emergency medicine resident at WellSpan York Hospital.
Participants said the training would help them be better doctors when a real patient is arriving at the emergency department.