Crash course

Before trauma patients reach the ER, the fight to save them often begins at the scene. That’s why Wright State University emergency medicine residents recently trained outside the hospital, combining vehicle extrication exercises and battlefield simulation to gain firsthand insight into prehospital care.

Earlier this spring, third-year residents used axes and hydraulic extrication tools on a wrecked minivan to simulate a high-stress rescue scenario at the Kettering Fire Department. The goal was to understand what firefighters, emergency responders and patients experience at the scene of an accident.

“It was the most fun I’ve had in a couple of months,” said Zach Campbell, D.O. “Residency is a grind and this is a great way to get some steam off.”

Led by Kettering Fire Department Capt. Eric Hagemeyer, the exercise focused on the “golden hour,” a narrow window of opportunity to save a patient’s life. “Sometimes it takes a long time to extricate a patient,” he said.

Resident Juliet Corcillo, M.D., said the class provided the physicians with an important perspective. “There’s a lot that we don’t think about,” she said. “We just see the patient when they get in.”

Hagemeyer said the Kettering Fire Department’s partnership with Wright State’s Boonshoft School of Medicine benefits both institutions.

“We get to share our knowledge and our skills with them, and they get to share their knowledge and skills with us,” he said.

Several weeks earlier, residents also participated in a combat casualty care training exercise at Wright State University’s Calamityville.

Both trainings support the EMS experience residents receive during the three-year program, said Brian Springer, M.D., professor and interim chair of emergency medicine at Wright State.

“It allows them to become better emergency room physicians,” Springer said.