An Adult Nursing student’s take on our interprofessional ‘Major Incident Day’

Major Incident Day is an annual event whereby students from a range of disciplines work interprofessionally to solve simulated, ‘real-life’ case studies. In this blog, Jamie, one of our PGDip Adult Nursing students, shares her experience of the day.

1. What was your role during the Major Incident Day, and what did it involve?  

My role in the Major Incident Day was an injured student, I had a blunt force trauma injury to my knee.

2. How did it feel to take part in a real-life scenario? 

I really enjoyed being part of this real-life scenario, it was really good to see how the event was set up, what the other students/professionals’ roles are, and how they negotiate that. I also enjoyed the evaluation of my injury process, it was good seeing how the nursing staff checked the injury and the process of elimination they went through.  

3. What skills did you use and/or develop during the day? 

I was able to draw on clinical knowledge I gained throughout my degree when I felt another victim wasn’t being processed as they likely should have been. I feel it was easy for the paramedics and the officers to overlook certain ailments as they are not as visual as an arterial bleed, but they can have hidden side effects/rapid decline such as the breathless patient.

4. How did you collaborate with students from other courses during the event? 

While I was a patient/victim in this scenario, I was able to collaborate with the police/paramedics on scene as there was a lady who was given the role of ‘being short of breath/unable to breath or talk in full sentences’ - she did a good job of relaying this information onto the paramedics, unfortunately they continued on into the lecture hall. I was then able to alert the police on scene that this lady was deteriorating and had been overlooked and suggest maybe they request a paramedic review to provide some oxygen while the trauma is being dealt with inside. 

5. How do you think this experience will help you in your future career? 

This experience has allowed me to see in a gentler way how a major incident is dealt with and how traumatic it can be. I believe this will help me in future as I have a small amount of knowledge around why the police will do certain things and the paramedics will do other things. While an injured person may feel they are being forgotten by medical staff, it could just be that there is a higher priority casualty that needs dealing with first.

6. What was your biggest takeaway or lesson learned from the day? 

My biggest takeaway was how well our emergency services work together and how important these higher education courses are!

7. Would you recommend this experience to future students, and if so, why? 

Yes I would, it was really good to be around students from other professions we may not work with otherwise. The knowledge of what their job role is, I believe is important as it gives us a small reflection on what would happen should we be unfortunate enough to have to deal with or be in a major incident. Not only that, you get to be around other students that you may not even meet so its good from a networking perspective too.

8. What advice would you give to students participating in future Major Incident Days? 

Put your all into it no matter what your role is. You are an important part of the learning process within this event and the more “in character” you are, the better the outcome will be.

If you want to gain practical experience and develop essential skills for your future career, events like our ‘Major Incident Day’ are just the start. At Wrexham University, we offer numerous opportunities for students to engage in real-world scenarios, collaborate with peers, and enhance their skills. Check out our broad range of hands-on undergraduate courses today!