With their shears and sponges at the ready, fourth-year medical students Joia Brosco and Ellie Pearlman immediately got to work as their classmate Amy Davis was wheeled into the decontamination tent. They carefully cut off her clothing and scrubbed her down to remove any radioactive contaminants, then sent her to the Emergency Department for further care.
All of this was part of mock mass casualty scenario set up at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center for the 16 students taking the wildly popular Wilderness and Disaster Medicine elective, developed and led by Peter D. Sananman, MD, director of Disaster Preparedness and an Emergency Medicine physician at PPMC.
The simulation challenged the students to think critically, act rapidly, and work collaboratively in a high-stress, quickly evolving situation. But even when the drill ended, they couldn’t relax just yet. Next up: A week of knot-tying, shelter-building, and splint-making to prepare them for wilderness emergencies.