disaster drill puts nursinQ students to the test IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII111111111111 \\1\\1\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\11111 . I:!:'academics Smoke filled the hallways, alarms blared and the screaming voices of students filled the air. This was not a scene from a horror movie, but one from the mock disaster drill April 13, 2005, in rhe Reynolds Center. Beginning in April 2002, a disaster drill took place each spring on campus in which a natural disaster was recreated, complete with parts of buildings inaccessible due to debris and victims acting as if they had real injuries. The disasters ranged from tornadoes and earthquakes to fires in dorms. The purpose of the mock drills was to prepare nursing students, Public Safety, university deans and administration, the fire deparrmenr, police and hospitals in case the scenarios cook place in rcallife, Karen Keiley, assistant professor of nursing, said. This year's drill was a fire dut started in the Reynolds Center during classes. The College of Nursing, theater program, Department of Public Safety, Searcy Fire Depart– ment, NOMStar Ambulance Service, WhiteCoWley Medical Center and Central Arkansas Hospi tal joined together to create the disaster drill. "We decided wdo an academic building because the main thing is there is a different set oflooking for who's in the building," Kelley said. "Instead of just the student deans getting rosters ofwho lives in rhe building or might be in the building, this time it involves human resources trying to accoum for employees who might be in the building, plus, the students in the building." Each year, a different disaster and building were chosen. "We've tried to cover the major threats that would likely cause damage to this area," Kelley said. "We're trying to choose different buildings because it helps the Searcy Fire Department who would, in the event of a real emergency, be the lead in search and rescue. It helps them know these buildings better." Robin Miller, professor of communication, said the drill prepared responders in helping a large group of people. "There are nothing but positives that arise from this situation," Miller said. "It educates students and is a good experience. "Most responders in White County do not deal with a large mass on a daily basis, and it allows the rescue personnel to learn our campus and their way around the buildings." The disaster drill not only aimed to help campus and community departments find areas ofmajor concern during a drill, but to also benefit rhe nursing students involved. During the drill, nursing students helped with the triage and treatmen t of patients and observed the transportation of victims. Some nursing students even served as victims along with theater students. Kelley said the drill was important because nursing students learned how to respond to a major disaster and were able to practice and see the instant command system chat fire departments and ambulances across the country had set up allowing everyone to respond in a uniform way. "The big important thing that they're learn– ing is how to treat each patient and practicing response," Kelley said. "They're also learning how to work with the emergency response system. Ifthey responded say to [the] Oklahoma City [Federal Building bombing], rhe World Trade Center or a tornado here, they would know how to do that effectively. They can say, 'I'm a nurse, and I know how to help out.", During the fire disaster drill in April, nursing students faced injuries such as burns, smoke inhala– tion and traumatic injuries thar were a result of people trying to get Out of the buildings, Kelley said. Kelley, along with Miller who organized the theater students to serve as victims, arranged victims to simulate jumpingOut ofa window and ended up with broken legs as well as a victim who responded hysterically and wanted to run back into the burning building. Students in the Community Health Nursing class planned and organized the drill and helped with the creation ofvictim scenarios.The Advanced Medical-Surgical Nursing class mainly did the treatment on the day of the drilL Another reason the drill was important for nursing students was to train them to respond well to disaster drills in hospitals as regis tered nurses, Kelley said. "Our graduates have to be prepared for [disas– ters] because in hospitals, nurses are required to respond to disastet drills," Kelley said. "They have to drill twice a year so that's a skill they have to come out of this program with." .(ynlhia Noah andKaly lowe ---1unioUUJl5ing5!udenl Kri~en Tgppe completes a chart for a patient at White County . 01 Center5e t. 20. NUrsi'fJ studenls ere required to participate In cllnlcals _ at local hospitals twice a week as part of their course work. -Russell Keck J i¥
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