Nursing Students Hone Their Emergency Preparedness Skills with Disaster Simulation

First responders and medical professionals are on the front lines of every crisis, and Widener University’s annual disaster simulation challenged students in the Jack & Nancy Dwyer School of Nursing to apply their emergency preparedness skills in a realistic, high-pressure setting.

Over 100 undergraduate nursing students took part in the event which simulated a fire at a senior nursing care facility. The scenario tasked students with applying their classroom knowledge and their clinical skills to a realistic, fast-paced simulation to assess and triage patients and safely evacuate the building.  

“We try to put them in a situation that they may not have ever been exposed to, but could actually happen,” said Teresa Lamarra, director of the Center for Simulation in the Dwyer School of Nursing. She wrote and prepared the exercise, which was planned over the course of a year. 

All nursing students are required to go through the simulation as part of their senior year studies. They have no idea what shape the scenario will take. 

“The whole premise is to get them thinking. Think like a nurse. What would you do?,” Lamarra said.

Students also acted as both victims of the fire and as first responders. Firefighters, police and EMS professionals from the city of Chester took part in the exercise too, as well as Widener nursing faculty and staff from Widener Campus Safety and Widener Emergency Management. All were on site to help guide students through real-world crisis response steps. The simulation was followed by a debriefing session, to discuss how things went and what could have happened in a real crisis. 

Nursing student Lasha Blount took part in the exercise and was assigned to participate as a resident of the nursing care facility’s dementia unit. She presented as a patient who was agitated and confused by the fire emergency, and she loudly reacted, adding to the chaos and stress facing the nursing students.

While she was an “actor” for the event, she also drew important lessons for her budding career as a nurse. She will walk in commencement on May 12.

“Keeping everyone safe and getting all victims out,” Blount said, recounting the lessons that stood out in her mind. “Making sure you pay attention to others around you. Making sure you have an account of patients who came in that day, and overall safety, are the big priorities.”