Niagara, ON - An opportunity for an inside look at training nurses to handle emergency trauma situations is scheduled for March 31 at St. Catharines General Site. The day-long session is a unique training initiative involving the hospital's Emergency Department (ED) nursing staff delivering hands-on training to 19 third- and fourth-year McMaster University nursing students.
The day will start off with classroom presentations in the morning by ED nurses. In the afternoon, students will divide into three groups and put the morning's learning into action as they are presented with three simulated emergency patients. The scenarios include an elderly pedestrian hit by a vehicle and suffering internal injuries, a construction worker who has fallen four storeys and a young stabbing victim with multiple wounds. ED Registered Nurses will play the role of the patient in each case, while their colleagues guide the students through the full gamut of clinical emergency triage, assessment, diagnostic/lab tests and treatment interventions.
The ED Trauma Training Day is a first for McMaster University and the Niagara Health System (NHS) and is indeed a rare offering to students in Ontario nursing programs, who do not usually experience the hospital nursing environment until their formal clinical placement. The unique training day is part of the NHS's ongoing nurse recruitment strategy. Initiatives such as this one benefit students as well as both organizations. The NHS held a similar training day last November for Brock University nursing students.
The Trauma Training Day takes place:
Mon., Mar. 31, St. Catharines General Site, Leonard Classroom (2nd Floor)
9:30 a.m. – Classroom Trauma Presentation
12:30 p.m. – Trauma Simulations
