Mock fire puts Dubai Women’s College paramedic students to real test

Dubai Women’s College (DWC), a Higher Colleges of Technology flagship institution, organized the 8th Mass Casualty Incident (MCI) simulation. Both male and female students studying Paramedics, Medical Imaging, and Applied Communications took part in the simulation. They were joined by paramedics from local clinics as well as teams from Le Royal Meridien, Grosvenor House, The Jumeirah Group and The City Hospital as well as Dubai Corporation of Ambulance Services, Dubai Police and the Dubai Civil Defence from Al Qusais also participated in the event. Emergency Doctors manned the hospital and received the many ‘injured patients’.

The simulated context was a raging fire within the college involving 10 staff and 30 students from DWC as victims suffering from smoke-inhalation and burn injuries. The Paramedic students who are trained to handle such disaster situations transported patients from the scene of the accident to a “hospital” in another area of the campus, where they used emergency medical techniques to treat the patients before sending them on to Medical Imaging students to carry out radiography procedures. The Applied Communications students practiced their journalism, TV coverage and still photography skills.

Mr. Ronald Blough, the program leader commented on the importance of running such simulations annually to allow the students to apply the incident management systems that they have been taught. “The practical application and rehearsal of classroom learning develops quality emergency medical technician paramedics for Dubai,” he added.

The Higher Colleges of Technology – Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) Paramedic program follows international standards and allows UAE National students to study in the UAE while enrolled in an American EMT-Paramedic program. The program is sponsored by Dubai Corporation of Ambulance Services.