Ready for disaster

Within education, one of the issues professors tackle is how to help students take classroom-learned information and apply it in a real-world setting. For Harding, one of the largest and most interprofessional methods of simulating a real-word situation is the annual disaster drill.

When Associate Professor of Nursing Karen Kelly, M.S.N., joined the Carr College of Nursing in 1994, she wanted to bring back the disaster drill the college had conducted while she was in school. When tornadoes tore through the area in 1999, Kelley was spurred on further.

“I had thought about it before, and that made me want to restart it even more,” Kelley says. “There was such devastation all around, and the University helped clean up in Beebe and places like that. It put it back in the forefront for me.” In August 2001, Kelley assigned a group in her Community Health class to work on a disaster plan for the area. And then Sept. 11 happened.

“Of course everybody was interested in disaster management after that. I had put out an email to colleagues inviting them to my students’ disaster plan presentation, and I got the Office of Public Safety and University risk management team wanting to join forces because they were wanting to do that as well.”

Since that initial drill, the exercise has been a yearly spring event. Many programs and departments have been brought on board over the years, from pharmacy, physician assistant and athletic training to journalism and theatre. For the health science students, the drill is about putting in-class learning into practice in a real-world setting with theatre students portraying victims and journalism students practicing covering the disaster.

“One of the objectives is for the health sciences students to learn the national plan for disasters and how to engage that system,” Kelley says. “In the drill, they see a run through of what that plan looks like along with triage, first aid, first response, and a little more advanced care at times. It’s important that students leave school knowing there is a system and how to work within it. It helps make disaster scenes less chaotic.”

In addition to the various majors on campus participating, several Harding offices use the drill as a way to prepare the University in case of emergency. The Office of Communications and Marketing, Student Health Services, and Office of Public Safety all participate, and the community does as well.

“In Searcy we’re really fortunate that our first responders participate in the disaster drill to help prepare the University,” Kelley says. “They get to know us, and we know them. The students get to interact with the EMS personnel depending on what drill we’re doing, so they get the benefit of that connection as well.”

By including the various responders in Searcy, it not only familiarizes them with campus in case of emergency but also brings issues to the University’s attention.

“In our first drill, we discovered the firefighters couldn’t get into the dorms with the pass keys,” Kelley says. “The University responded and put the boxes on the doors so that the fire department has access when they need it.”

Michael Murphy, M.D., director of the physician assistant studies program feels the involvement of the local officials helps the drill feel much more realistic, and with that realism, students find that emotions run high.

“Students feel somewhat prepared with knowledge about what to do, but the drill brings a level of emotional challenges that can be surprisingly overwhelming,” Murphy says. “The debriefing discussions afterward help a lot in letting participants talk about how they felt during the drill. The most common comments I’ve heard from PA and other health students are about being glad to experience feeling knowledgeable and then experience the overwhelming need for resources that are not available. They have to keep doing their best even though they know they cannot save everyone.”

For the 2017 drill, the exercise simulated a multi-vehicle accident. For nursing major Cody Cottrell, the simulation highlighted the importance of learning to work with other departments.

“Harding’s health sciences department is a big proponent of interprofessional collaboration, but those opportunities can be limited while in school,” says Cottrell. “Most of the time students interact with other people in the same line of study so it was nice to work with other professions. It is like a puzzle is fitting together.”

Cottrell played a driver in the simulation and found that clarity within the calamity was vital.

“From the experience as a whole, I learned how to go about filling roles in the case of disaster,” Cottrell says. “There is a certain organization that is necessary amid the chaos, and being prepared to fulfill a duty within an individual’s scope of practice is important for disasters to be handled smoothly.”

At the end of the drill, the various areas gather for a debriefing where they relate what they saw and see if they handled the situation correctly. While initially stunned at the start of the drill, Kelley says the debriefing is where she sees students process the exercise and prepare for what similar events will be like out in the world.

“When they leave school, students are not going to be in their own discipline’s groups anymore, so it’s important to get that experience now while they’re in school. This is one place where all disciplines are working together.”