ST. LOUIS — In 2023, there have been at least 145 mass shootings in the United States.
Simple math tells us that's more than one mass casualty event per day.
If you look around Steinberg Skating Rink, then you might think it’s the scene of America’s latest mass casualty event.
“It’s one of those things that can be a little surreal,” Dr. Alex Croft, associate director for Emergency Medicine Simulation at Washington University, said.
However, this simulation is meant to teach WashU medical students how to treat the unexpected.
“We set the scene for psychological safety,” Dr. Croft said. “We will tell them this is a safe place to learn, and we’re doing this with the premise of getting better.”
Though these students were simply acting, they are teaching their classmates with the tools to do more than just triage wounds in stressful situations.
“Everything from good communication, and incident command, to field triage,” Dr. Croft said. “How do we reconcile families after an event like this? How do we deal with anyone who is disruptive at the scene?”
As they work their way through the crowd, Dr. Croft is also studying how each student processes the psychological safety of their patients.
“This is really an empathy giving device in a lot of ways,” Dr. Croft said. “We really want to make sure we’re covering the breadth of how these patients go for our pre-hospital providers -- paramedics and EMTs -- all the way to the hospital.”
Lifesaving tools that Dr. Croft said a textbook simply can’t teach.
“We hope nobody has to do this, but in the event, they’ll have some of that choreography down and they’ll be able to best take care of patients,” Dr. Croft said.
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