MGCCC Healthcare Students Get Some Hands On Training

For healthcare students, getting trained to deal with trauma situations is critical, and sometimes sitting in a classroom just isn’t enough. That’s why Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (M.G.C.C.C.) puts on a trauma simulation every semester for their healthcare students. When it comes to emergency medical trauma situations like car accidents, it’s important that responders are on top of their game, as they work fast under pressure to save lives.

Thankfully, Friday was just a drill for M.G.C.C.C. healthcare students to learn from. Ginny Hancock, a nursing student at M.G.C.C.C., says, "The experience allows us to get a real life situation that we might not have to opportunity to get in the hospital. We do work on patients in the hospital at clinicals, but here it just allows us to get a little deeper in."

Cherry Anthony, a paramedic student at M.G.C.C.C., says, "We were able to get a better feel for what it is going to be like when we’re actually in the role of leadership out there in the field."

In this scenario, one victim was ejected out of the car and is already dead. As for the second victim, it’s a matter of life or death as the paramedics jumped to action. Hancock also says, "They want us to learn how to act on our feet, so it helps us with that."

These students are from all different areas of healthcare, but working together with good communication and teamwork can often make the difference between life and death. Anthony says, "We worked with the funeral service and we also got to act like we were going into an E.R. We got to talk to the nurses and give a verbal report."

Tiffany Zyniewicz, Simulation Center Director for M.G.C.C.C., closes, "That interaction with the team. Healthcare is a team and it is vitally important that paramedics understand their role, nurses understand their role, medical lab technology understands their role, and funeral service understands their role."