CDU News August 2023 | Page 13

Page 13 CDU Newsletter
August 2023 with emergency service professionals to provide medical aid to the wounded persons laid out on the University ’ s lawn .
“ I think at first , I was like ‘ woah , what do we do ?’ because we didn ’ t have supplies ,” said Montgomery . “ Once we got the supplies , I started to feel a little bit better because there was something that we could do and then from there , I feel like the anxiety went down as we were getting her more stabilized .”
At the time of the incident , 60 CDU Medical Degree students and 26 CDU Physician Assistant students were participating in procedural skills simulation stations . The stations which consisted of triage station , airway management station , cricothyrotomy station , chest tube / needling station , stop the bleed station , fracture stabilization and splinting station , intraosseous / IV placement station , and BLS / First Aid station proved to be beneficial to students as they were presented with a real-life tragedy .
According to Dr . Shanika Boyce , Assistant Professor and Director Service Learning and Pre-Clerkship Clinical Education for the CDU 4-Year Medical Program , the medical degree students that quickly sprang into action are in their orientation of medical school and have not yet started their first medical school classes .
“ I was able to go to each of the different groups and they definitely were engaged with their patient , and they understood what was happening ,” shared Dr . Boyce . “ We kind of went over things like how they would triage their patient and they were able to do so appropriately and definitely for their level right now .”
Dr . Boyce ’ s observations of the students ’ engagement and appropriate response underscored CDU ’ s commitment to preparing healthcare professionals who understand the unique needs of underserved communities and can provide competent care even in high-stress situations .
“ It was excellent how they handled the situation ,” said Dr . Boyce . “ Initially you could tell that they were anxious about it , but then as they kind of understood what was happening you could see that their levels of anxiety decreased .”
The response time of the official emergency medical services , including EMTs and firefighters , was
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