Life-Like Experience Prepares First-Responders for Stress of Job

Patient being loaded into ambulanceSirens. Blood. Screams. The intensity and raw emotion of an emergency situation can overwhelm inexperienced first-responders.

Fortunately, MCC students will enter the workforce with those first rattling experiences under their belt.

MCC hosts the Immersive Total Patient Management Experience (ITPME) each spring. This year’s two-day event brought together more than 100 students from five college areas:  Emergency Medical Technician, Paramedic Education, Nursing, Theatre, and Psychology.

Sixteen simulated emergency medical scenarios depicting typical first-responder calls provided students with opportunities to practice their knowledge and skills in a variety of mock situations during the immersive learning experience. During scenario enactments, paramedic, EMT, nursing and psychology students employed their medical/clinical knowledge to care for “patients” while theatre students used their moulage, set design, choreography, directorship and acting skills to bring scenarios to life.

Rescue teams of EMT/paramedic and psychology students, with fully operational emergency medical services (EMS) equipment, were dispatched to scenarios via the Virtual Incident Command Center (VICC). Upon arrival at the “scene” MCC students would coordinate with dispatch in the VICC, staffed by volunteer physicians and fourth-year medical students, to assess, “treat” and transport a “victim” to a simulated emergency room where nursing students take over “care of the patient” with oversight from a volunteer resident physician. 

MCC’s Virtual Incident Command Center (VICC) will be used by the National Association of EMS Educators to offer scenario training this fall. The VICC is a state-of-the-art virtual simulation lab specifically designed to enrich immersive learning experiences.

Nine scenarios were reenacted simultaneously each day during morning and afternoon sessions with each lasting 30-45 minutes from dispatch to patient transfer in the simulated emergency room. Rescue teams received crew-performance critiques and debriefs following each scenario.

“The collaborative aspect of ITPME combines the strengths and skillsets in both normatively parallel occupational programs and those less commonly associative to create the most comprehensive student learning and workforce experience possible for students in other disciplines,” said Sean Newton, director of MCC’s paramedic education program.

Patient on gurneyCommunity support came from Tempe Fire, Medical, Rescue Department; HonorHealth; Midwestern University at Glendale; Boeing-Mesa Fire; Reynolds Advance Materials; Arizona State University; and Grand Canyon University.

Extensive photos and are available at the links below.

ITPME Photo Album 1
ITPME Photo Album 2

ITPME Videos
Introduction
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