Nation`s Largest Student-Led MCI Drill Trains Tex. Medical Students

PRESS RELEASE

Texas A&M University Health Science Center (Texas A&M Health) today conducted the largest student-led interprofessional disaster response simulation in the nation. Aptly called Disaster Day, this large-scale drill emulates a disaster situation and teaches health professions students how to work collaboratively in interprofessional teams to provide timely and appropriate patient care.

Created by the Texas A&M College of Nursing and now in its twelfth year, students from Texas A&M colleges of nursing, medicine, pharmacy and public health, as well as psychology and veterinary medicine students and the Corps of Cadets, take part in the one-day event. It is held at Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service’s (TEEX) Brayton Fire Training Field and Disaster City, a world-class, 52-acre mock city that serves as a training facility for emergency responders.

“We are very fortunate here in Bryan-College Station to be in such close proximity to one of the best training facilities in the nation for first responders, where entities from around the world come to train,” said Martin Mufich, MSN, RN, CHSE, director of disaster preparedness, response and recovery in the Office of Interprofessional Education and Research (IPER) at Texas A&M Health. “In addition, Texas A&M is home to the Texas Division of Emergency Management and Texas A&M Task Force 1, one of 28 federal teams under the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)’s National Urban Search and Rescue System.”

A new scenario is selected each year and kept secret until event day to provide the realism of an unexpected situation. Last year’s event was a chemical explosion and building collapse, and this year’s event simulated an earthquake. More than 700 students participated and engaged in triage at the disaster site, patient care at a mock field hospital, and disaster management and simulation oversight at Disaster City’s Emergency Operations Training Center.

To add realism, other students in makeup portrayed victims with various degrees of wounds, from cuts to compound fractures. They mimicked panicked patients as they screamed, cried and pleaded for help. Instructors and other observers evaluated student teams on their clinical skills, teamwork and communication to help improve their skills for a real-life disaster and their practice after graduation. 

“It takes students out of their usual clinical element and makes them think quickly in what can be an uncomfortable environment,” Mufich said. “Practicing this way is valuable because these situations can happen in the real world.”

This year, additional public events were added and held throughout the week, including the Texas A&M University Superfund Research Center’s community-wide event called “Plan Ahead, Be Prepared,” a variety of trainings, including a Stop the Bleed course and opioid overdose reversal training, and a Disaster Management Symposium.

Texas A&M students, first responders and the community were also invited to learn how to access, utilize and apply disaster related resources available from the National Library of Medicine (NLM) through the new “ReDiReCT” (Integrating NLM Resources into Disaster Preparedness and Response Cross-Disciplinary Training) disaster application portal.

“When disaster strikes, incredible coordination between groups and people is required by working under intense pressure to care for those in need,” said Greg Hartman, interim senior vice president of Texas A&M Health. “Disaster Day simulates this level of coordination—from planning through execution—to better prepare our students.”

H-E-B is returning as a major sponsor along with new sponsor Aggreko. Other partner organizations participating are the American Red Cross, Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council, Texas Department of Emergency Management, Texas Department of State Health Services, Texas State Guard, Texas A&M Corps of Cadets, Texas A&M Engineering Extension Services, Texas A&M Mays Business School, Texas A&M Telebehavioral Care, Texas A&M University Superfund Research Center and Texas A&M Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Science.

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