For the Tomahawk Leader
RHINELANDER – Dozens of students and staff at Nicolet College in Rhinelander recently participated in a real-world simulation training exercise.
A release from Nicolet said the exercise, dubbed the “Burn Simulation,” was designed to give students enrolled in various programs the opportunity work with each other.
“What many people don’t realize is the high level of communication and coordination that takes place between all of the players who respond to a high-risk emergency,” said Dilya St. Louis, Nicolet College Nursing Instructor and Simulation Exercise Coordinator. “After these students graduate and start their careers, it will be common for them to work with others from different professions. We wanted to give them that experience, to interact with each other and for all of them to practice the specialized skills they’ve learned in Nicolet labs and classrooms.”
Nicolet said the multi-faceted exercise started with a 911 call to report two individuals trapped inside a burning building, prompting a response by firefighters, who then entered the college’s smoke-filled burning building to extract the victims.
“Once outside, Paramedic and Emergency Medical Services students assessed the extent of patients’ injuries, initiated care, and transported the patients by ambulance to the Nicolet Emergency Room, otherwise known as the college’s Nursing Lab,” Nicolet stated. “While en route, students in the ambulance had to radio ahead to pass on as much medical information as possible to the waiting Nursing students, who then prepped the ER for the patients.”
Fourth-semester Nursing student Cody Volm said the experience was invaluable, giving him and his classmates the opportunity to practice the many skills they’ve learned leading up to this day.
“Being part of a real-world training scenario like this is fantastic,” Volm stated. “This may be the only time we get to do something like this before entering the workforce. It’s a fantastic collaborative experience that really gives you added insight into how all the pieces fit together.”
The last phase of the scenario entailed professional staff from Aspirus MedEvac arriving in the Nicolet Emergency Room to transport the critically-injured patients to a burn unit. Nicolet said this gave Nursing students the opportunity to practice their communication skills, relaying the treatment they provided and the medical status of each patient.
St. Louis noted after the scenario was finished that she was quite pleased with how the training played out.
“We refer to scenarios like this as low-frequency and high-risk,” St. Louis explained. “We don’t see them very often in a rural area like northern Wisconsin, but they do happen, and we feel it’s important to train for situations like this. Peoples’ lives are literally on the line. It’s high stress, and I’m just glad we could provide the training everybody can draw on when the need arises.”
Nicolet Associate Dean of Public Safety Jason Goeldner also participated in the simulation, directing the firefighters who launched the scenario.
“Firefighters may not always have a good sense of what paramedics do and what nurses do,” Goeldner said. “This was an excellent opportunity to expand the knowledge base of all involved and to stress how they have to communicate with each other and work together efficiently and effectively to have a successful outcome.”
