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LC State nursing and theater students to participate in disaster simulation on Friday

LEWISTON, Idaho – Lewis-Clark State College students who are seniors in the nursing program, along with students in the theater program, will take part in a emergency disaster simulation Friday on campus at Sacajawea Hall.

The 35 nursing students will be divided into three sessions where they will be faced with a disaster scenario patterned after the wildfires that hit nearby Kamiah and Kooskia during the summer of 2017.  The theater students will play the roles of patients who will present a variety of ailments, injuries, symptoms and other conditions unbeknown to the nursing students. The nursing students will then do an intake assessment with each patient and check their vital signs and blood pressure. The nursing students will then present their findings to a medical professional.

The disaster simulation is scheduled to last approximately 30 minutes and it will be followed by a 30 minute debrief with Dr. Julie Cary, a clinical associate professor in the Washington State University Veterinary Clinical Sciences program. The first simulation is scheduled for 8 a.m., followed by simulations at 9:40 and 10:50 a.m.

The exercise, which has occurred once per semester for the past 20 years, is part of LC State’s Community Health Nursing course taught by Tracy Flynn and Mary Lou Robinson, nursing professors at the college. The simulation’s purpose is to give the nursing students an example of a real-life experience they could face during their careers.

This is the third semester that students in the theater department have helped by playing the roles of patients.

For more information on the simulation, contact Flynn at either 208-792-2299 or [email protected].