Nursing Students Lend Helping Hand in Regional Disaster Drill

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Eleanor Mann School of Nursing students receive instructions at the disaster drill.

Last month, many Eleanor Mann School of Nursing students volunteered to participate in a disaster drill. The University of Arkansas nursing students were practicing clinical skills at acute care facilities when they offered to volunteer. The regional disaster drill is part of the National Emergency Preparedness Program.

Since the terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001, hospitals have emphasized the need for and crucial importance of preparedness for both natural and manmade mass casualty incidents. Nurses are often some of the first responders to disaster scenes. Both federal and state governments require disaster preparedness for public health infrastructure.

The premise of the drill was that a large tornado had hit Northwest Arkansas and there had been many casualties. The participants in the disaster drill were taken to a satellite location on Washington Regional Medical Center's campus in Fayetteville. The nursing students were assigned to be the patients. One nursing student, Kylee Broadhurst, was given a card with the description of her role.

"I had a facial injury, a high respiratory rate, and I didn't speak English," said Broadhurst on her pretend diagnosis.

Paramedics gave the students green, yellow, red or black flags that determined the patients' type of urgency. Yellow markers indicated that patients be redirected to the hospital.

"I loved being able to see the hospital from a patient's perspective," said Caroline Coleman, a participating nursing student. "It was helpful to understand the urgency of patient care as it relates to the normal pace of the hospital."

The objective of the regional disaster drill is to train employees and test aspects of emergency response. They provide a structure for the hospital to organize all aspects of a disaster.

 "It was a really neat getting to experience what it's like to be placed in the back of an ambulance and then being rushed into the ER," said Broadhurst. "I think it really brought awareness to all of us the potential for disasters and how important it is to be able to perform under pressure and prioritize care appropriately."

The majority of the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing J2 semester students participated in the regional disaster drill. The J2 semester is typically the second semester of junior year for nursing students in the program at the university. The J2 nursing students who participated in the drill are studying medical-surgical adult nursing and mental health.