Medical students learn about disaster hands-on

Fourth-year medical students walked out of a lecture on disaster preparedness into the middle of a simulated bus accident on the Medical University of South Carolina campus Friday.

Lancer Scott, the university's director of disaster preparedness, said he wanted students to get hands-on experience in how to handle a disaster. That 's important, he said, because a doctor's role is very different when assisting with a major disaster than it is seeing patients in an office or at a hospital.

"These students will be the family physician, the local ER doctor ... when a disaster hits, people will flock to them and demand assistance," Scott said.

One hundred inflatable bodies were scattered around the grounds outside the hospital Friday afternoon, each with a piece of paper taped to its chest containing the person's name, weight and vital signs. Students had to jump to action using the standard triage procedures they had just learned.

Each body had to be carried to one of four areas marked by different color flags. A red flag marked the area for those who needed immediate medical attention; a yellow flag meant treatment could be delayed; a green flag meant the person had minor injuries; and a black flag meant they were dead or soon would be.

Students also were told that the accident involved a truck carrying dangerous pesticides. In response, they donned gear designed for dealing with hazardous materials and learned how to decontaminate patients by stripping down mannequins and washing them off in a portable facility set up on the campus.

Medical student Kate Mastriani said the exercise made more real for her what a disaster might be like. It was startling to see so many bodies, she said.

"It takes a lot longer than you would expect" to deal with them all.

Scott said he teaches students to first protect themselves and their co-workers, then serve the patients. That's different than the way they usually work, he said.

He also teaches them that in a disaster, "they are not in charge." That's a tough lesson for doctors who are used to being in control, he said.

Peter King, a fourth-year medical student, said the training was useful because handling a disaster requires "a different mentality than what we do day in and day out." Emergency workers have to work quickly and prioritize patients by the type of injury they've sustained. "You have to resist the urge to do something right away," he said.

Now, he said, "if something happened, I'd have some idea about how the process works and I could contribute in a better way. It's not second nature yet, but I'm familiar with it."

Reach Diane Knich at 937-5491 or dknich@postandcourier.com.