A few weeks ago Creighton hosted an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) competition in the Skutt Student Center in which teams made up of three members competed against each other during a mock, timed scenario. In each EMS scenario, the team has 15 minutes to make triage assess, begin treatment and make transport decisions.
The competition involved two divisions: the Advanced life support (ALS) division teams, which are comprised of paramedics, and basic life support (BLS) teams, who are certified EMTs, most of which are Creighton University EMS Program paramedic students. The scenarios that they faced often had five to 10 patients, some of which were in critical condition and others whose conditions were moderate to minor. Scenarios also included some distractors who were meant to distract the participants from other more serious or important work. The scenarios were based on possible true-life events where live actors and manikins were patients.
“This year’s event included an outdoor wedding ceremony that was involved in a severe thunderstorm with several patients struck by lightning,” EMS instructor Mike Miller said. “Patients ranged in age from young teenagers to elderly grandparents. Injuries included severe burns, fractures, heart problems, and a few intoxicated wedding crashers. We work very hard to develop a realistic scenario with considerable time given to prepping those who will be patient actors during the scenario.”
The actors and manikins had all kinds of roles. Some were dead, some were intoxicated, and others suffered from cardiac arrest. The actors, EMS Creighton students, were able to show emotion and really make the scenario come alive.
“I was an actor; I played the best man in a wedding that got struck by lightning,” EMS student at Creighton and actor Dan Deane said. “I had props and makeup that made it look like I had all the appropriate findings you would see at such a scenario; in this case, an entry and exit wound. There was a lot of yelling and a lot of screaming for equipment and chaos. The other actors were screaming in pain or trying to draw attention to distracting injuries; it was all a part of the competition.”
Creighton EMS students who did not participate in the competition were able to learn from the experience by being actors in the situations.
“It is the closest we are able to get to the real environment they are training for, Miller said. “Students have the added benefit of watching other teams handle the same scenario. In the audience you can hear them saying: ‘wow, that was a great idea,’ or ‘I wish I had thought of that,’ ‘and they made the same mistake we did.’”
Teams and the actors’ leadership skills, teamwork ability and knowledge were put to the test during the competition.
“The best part of the EMS competition is that it is active learning,” Miller said. “Teams are able to apply what they have learned in a close to real situation where there is little risk when a mistake is made. As emergency medical responders we work in a very high stakes environment where people’s lives can be at stake. Learning in this type of situation is active, engaging, fun, challenging and memorable.”
EMS instructors agreed that the teams always did a great job of being put into impossible situations that were designed to test their leadership, teamwork, medical knowledge and skills. Judges scored every possible detail of the teams’ performance and spectators had a viewing area.
“Overall it is a daunting experience and I applaud all the participants for giving it their best effort,” Miller said.
This year’s BLS division champion is a team comprised of three Creighton paramedic students: Drew Schramm, John Schmitz and Jake Wingate. Calicia Hergott, Luke Palacio and Jens Petersen captured second place and Baptiste Beauvais, Hans Madsen and Wajiha Ahmad took third place.
Creighton’s Basic Life support team took first place in this year’s EMS competition. Members include from left to right junior Drew Schramm, Jake Wingate and John Schmitz.
Creighton EMS students treat a manikin harmed in one of the scenarios during the competition.