UCLan paramedic students put to the test at realistic training day

Students experienced sights, sounds and even the smells of a real situation. Pic: UCLan

Paramedic students from the University of Central Lancashire were put to the test during a hyper-realistic training day held in Fleetwood.

The trauma scenario day saw 47 BSc Paramedic Science second and third-year students put their training to the test in five different emergencies.

They responded to a boat crash, a factory explosion, a tunnel rescue, a helicopter failure in water and a house fire.

Scenarios included a boat crash on Fleetwood beach after the driver suffered a heart attack. Pic: UCLan

Drama students from Blackpool and the Fylde College were made up to look like real casualties, suffering from burn and wound injuries, broken limbs and even a cardiac arrest.

Gary Moore, second-year student said: “I’ve just taken part in the helicopter training simulation, which involved multiple casualties. It was tough but we learned a lot.

“We had a clinical mentor who supported us and calmed us down when things were erratic at the beginning. He encouraged us to think things through and calmly assess what we needed to do.”

Staff and students from Fleetwood Nautical Campus, officers from Lancashire Fire and Rescue Services and HM Coastguard Fleetwood helped to bring the event to life to ensure the students had a realistic experience.

Mark Sumner, Team Leader for Safety and Renewables at Fleetwood Nautical Campus and Station Officer at HM Coastguard Fleetwood co-led the event.

He said: “This is the third year we’ve run a trauma exercise day and it’s a big multi-agency effort that is as close to real life as we can get. We’ve got great actors in very realistic makeup and the paramedic students are thrown into these emergency situations to see how they perform under pressure.”

UCLan BSc Paramedic Science second-year cohort lead and co-leader of the event Donna Ryan said: “Students may not experience some of these situations during placement so we make sure they’re super realistic with the sights, the sounds and even the smells of a real situation.”

See a video of the day here via YouTube.

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