About the Authors Ethan Start, BS, is a medical student, School of Medicine, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina. Joan M. Culley, PhD, MPH, RN, CWOCN, FAAN, is Professor Emerita, College of Nursing, University of South Carolina. Abbas Tavakoli, DrPH, MPH, ME, a biostatistician, is a clinical professor, College of Nursing, University of South Carolina. Vera Polyakova-Norwood, MEd, is director of distributed learning, College of Nursing, University of South Carolina. This research was supported by the National Library of Medicine (1R01LM011648-01A1). The authors thank Dr. Mary Foster Cox, Associate Clinical Professor, College of Nursing at the University of South Carolina, for her expertise and assistance in developing the learning modules and supervising students during the exercise. For more information, contact Dr. Culley at
Nurs Educ Perspect. 2021;42(3):174-176. doi: 10.1097/01.NEP.0000000000000646.
Life-saving response to mass casualty incidents (MCIs) requires education and training. Participation in an MCI full-scale exercise provided nursing students with a rare opportunity to experience a simulated disaster from the patient perspective to better understand the unique issues involved in mass casualty response. This innovative teaching approach enabled students to undergo triage and decontamination as victims of a chemical MCI and participate in a research study. We describe student feedback on this learning experience and the implications of incorporating a full-scale MCI for providing a patient perspective into nursing curricula.
对大规模伤亡事件(MCIs)的救生反应需要教育和培训。参与 MCI 全面演习为护理学生提供了一个难得的机会,从患者的角度体验模拟灾难,从而更好地了解大规模伤亡反应中涉及的独特问题。这种创新的教学方法使学生能够作为化学 MCI 的受害者进行分诊和净化,并参与研究。我们描述了学生对此学习体验的反馈,以及将全面的 MCI 纳入护理课程提供患者视角的意义。