MERIDIAN, Idaho — You never know when a traumatic event can happen, and at the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine (ICOM), they want to make sure their students are ready for the worst-case scenario.
Idaho News 6 was recently on hand at ICOM this past Friday for a mass casualty simulation where students practiced saving lives in a highly chaotic situation.
"They can learn in an environment where, at the end of the day, everything resets and nothing bad actually happens," said Mohammad Abuakar, the simulation's founder.
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Emergency Medicine Club President Mary Pendleton explained, "It was a multi-vehicle accident with 11 vehicles and a bus involved due to cold weather, some icy situations, and some intoxication. There were multiple victims. Some of them were casualties; then, we had some critical patients that were brought up. Those patients, we run to the simulation rooms, so we have simulations going."
I got a look at some of these training rooms, and the intensity inside was unmatched. Practice dummy or not, students were determined to save as many lives as possible.
"They are very hectic. People are screaming and yelling. People are hurt, and they want to see their family," said Abuakar, describing most mass casualty events.
Abuakar founded this training last year after spending a few years serving as a first responder and having experienced a multi-casualty event himself. He believes that many students are not prepared for this kind of situation.
"I don't expect any of these student doctors to walk out of here being experts, knowing how to run one of these [simulations] themselves tomorrow," said Abuakar. "The goal is for them to look at this and be like, ‘Hey, this is really chaotic, really hectic. There's a lot that goes into it, and for them to understand the communication piece and know about what's going on outside the hospital before it gets to them inside the hospital."
With constant population growth, ICOM is hopeful that training like this can inspire other medical schools to also prepare for major situations they might be unprepared for otherwise.
