NEWS

Louisiana Tech nursing students gained first-hand experience in crisis care and response during a recent mock disaster drill at Lomax Hall located on Tech’s South Campus.

The exercise involved the students, as patients and practitioners, as well as the Louisiana Tech Police Department, Ruston Police and Fire Departments, Jackson Parish EMS, and Northern Louisiana Medical Center.

“Students participate and learn what it is to experience a disaster from seeing it as the participant and not the clinician,” says Ramona Guin, assistant professor of nursing at Louisiana Tech. “The public and other service professionals are able to see the real aspects and contributions of our profession.”

The mock disaster drills offer the students clinical and service learning opportunities in the field with critical incident stress debriefing. This field-based approach affords the nursing faculty the opportunity (and distinct challenge) of teaching psychiatric, maternal-child, and medical-surgical nursing as well as value to the community.

A grant from the University of Louisiana Service Learning System and Learn and Serve America made this unique learning opportunity possible and allowed community public safety agencies to participate, strengthen the learning experience for the students.

“The value of service-learning projects such as this has been proven to positively affect students’ leadership abilities, degree aspirations, critical thinking skills and commitment to helping others,” says Guin. “In preparing our students to better handle community disaster situations, we are ensuring the care of our families and friends while engaging our future leaders in civic involvement.”

Written by Dave Guerin