MANSFIELD — There were no scripts and no warnings. Just seconds to act fast for OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital staff Wednesday morning.
An obstetrics trauma drill took place, pushing staff into an intense and highly realistic simulation. The hospital never gives advance notice of what the scenario will be, so staff react to a surprising emergency.
The emergency medical service (EMS) began the drill, rushing into the room with a pregnant, unresponsive female. Everyone in the room quickly jumped into action and began doing their part.
EMS alerted the staff the mother had no heartbeat. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation began, while the medical staff worked on a cesarean section to get the baby out and safe.
The simulation required teamwork from the moment the EMS arrived until the end of the exercise.
Trauma drill brings every department together
Dr. Alexander Chapman, a critical care surgeon, said the goal was to create the most realistic scenario possible. They involved everyone in the drill to give staff the most experience and teaching possible in one simulation.
“In this scenario, the mom comes in without a heart rate, and the goal is to try and save both her and the baby,” Chapman said.
The drill functioned in the same crowded, high-stress conditions that come with real-life trauma.
“It is absolutely that crowded in that situation,” Chapman said. “There are a lot of players, especially when you’ve got a pregnant trauma patient, but a lot of people need to be in the room and then there are a lot of people that come to offer help, hopefully in any way they can.”
Chapman said these situations help determine who needs to be there and who does not, ensuring all important players are ready to respond as quickly as possible.
Chapman said the trauma drill involves emergency medical services, the emergency department, the operating room department, labor and delivery, obstetrics, trauma, hospitalists, nurses, advanced practice providers, and lab and respiratory care.
“We want everyone to always be here ready to go for something like this, and that is why we have these simulations so that we can be prepared as quickly as possible, to give folks the best care possible,” Chapman said.
Realistic mannequins bring training drill to life
The mannequins for these simulations were hyper-realistic, allowing staff to get as close as possible to a real situation.
“The mannequin has a pulse, it can respond, it has a baby inside of it, it has the ability to do procedures, place lines, place chest tubes, and then that’s all managed from a computer program that the simulation folks are running,” Chapman said.
The mannequins with this type of technology have been out for around 10 years, but they have been relatively new to Mansfield Hospital within the last couple of years.
Training sharpens OhioHealth’s response
While the staff played out the trauma drill, a group of supervisors watched and took notes.
“There are a lot of folks just watching to see what we could do better next time or in real life,” Chapman said.
Once the drill ended, the staff debriefed on what took place. From there, supervisors addressed what they can do differently, processes they can change or system aspects that can change for the future.
OhioHealth holds trauma drills a couple times a year, covering a variety of situations.
“This is the second time, I think, this year we are doing an obstetrics simulation,” Chapman said. “We also have other trauma drills and code yellows, which are disaster drills.
“We try and get a large scale of simulations in each year.”
These simulations help identify all those gaps, Chapman said, hopefully before the real situation occurs, so they can fix what they need to and be more prepared for when these situations arise.
(Pictures from the trauma drill at OhioHealth. Picture credit: Hannah Martin)
