Lifesaving lessons

Summer students learn valuable skills at mass casualty drill

By Sophia Bahr and Sarah Correa-Dibar
Photos by Jesse S. Jones

Nearly 80 students in the UF Summer Health Professions Education Program, or SHPEP, got real-world lessons in how to assess and treat catastrophic injuries
during a mass casualty drill on the north lawn outside of the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions. Assisted by UF emergency medicine residents, UF College of Nursing students and area first responders, they practiced lifesaving skills on volunteer victims adorned with realistic theatrical blood to help create the urgent atmosphere. Separated into three teams, the SHPEP students assessed the injuries guided by papers the victims had that described their
wounds. The rescuers had to make split-second decisions to prioritize the injuries. The students practiced the basics of emergency care, including holding
pressure on wounds and applying tourniquets, key elements of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Stop the Bleed campaign.