Portsmouth medical students work with QA clinicians in simulated disaster which imagines earthquake in Hampshire

Student nurses, radiology students and student paramedics from the University of Portsmouth worked with nurses and clinicians from Queen Alexandra Hospital to practise dealing with the catastrophe as part of the SIMEX23 training exercise.

Acting students in special effects make-up – applied by Fareham College students – played casualties who were rushed into the building on stretchers to be triaged and treated.

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19-year-old Alyssa Tyrrell – studying drama and performance – played a pregnant casualty who died in hospital, leading doctors to perform an emergency caesarean operation.

Allyssa said: ‘I was a little bit nervous this morning but after doing the smaller injuries it was a lot better. In this scenario, the paramedics will wheel me in and I tell them I’m not feeling well. I will pass out, go in and have the baby removed. It’s really interesting to see how people who aren’t actors actually react to what we do. When we go in there, the doctors are not acting so it’s very different.’

University of Portsmouth senior teaching fellow Melanie Tanner, one of the SIMEX organisers, said: ‘The University of Portsmouth and the Queen Alexandra Hospital work together in collaboration to practise and rehearse what would happen in a real life casualty situation. The idea is that when it actually came to having a real crash or a real mass-casualty situation, then we’d all be prepared.

‘My student nurses here today have an opportunity to practice without actually causing any harm to any patients in the process. We use simulation a lot to practise, but on this scale this is a first for them. So far, it’s been hectic and it’s been great. They’re really enjoying it and really getting more confident. They were scared stiff this morning but by lunchtime they had really settled into their roles.’

The students also had the opportunity to learn first-hand from QA Hospital staff, who also took part in the simulated scenario. The event kicked off on Tuesday (May 9) and runs until Thursday, May 11 with the second day using children from a local drama school to simulate a minibus crash.

Another aspect of the training saw some students role-play as refugees in an humanitarian exercise designed to promote empathy and good communication skills.

QA consultant Sarah Herbert, who works in the hospital’s emergency department, has been running SIMEX for the last three years.

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Sarah said: ‘It’s a good collaboration between the hospital and the university. The staff at QA don’t get to run a major incident that often on this scale – the only way we can do that is by running it at the university. Our nurses can then share their knowledge and facilitate the knowledge for the student nurses. We spend most of the year setting up for it and then there’s the pressure of it all going into one day.

‘No sooner have we finished one than we start planning the next one. It’s really nice seeing it all come together but it’s quite hard work.’