Students Gain Practical Experience During "Dr. Told Weekend" The annual training exercise referred to as "Dr. Told Weekend" by the residents of Baggs, Wyoming took place the weekend of June 4th. Twenty-seven RVU students in the Rural and Wilderness Medicine Track participated in realistic simulations to gain practical experiences in triage and emergency medicine. Thomas N. Told, DO, FACOFP-dist., Acting Associate Dean, who served for many years as a physician for the Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) community prior to his tenure at RVU, was in attendance for the weekend. He was joined by Andy Nigh, MD, FACS, and David Ross, DO, FACEP, Directors of the Rural and Wilderness Medical Track on the Southern Utah and Colorado campuses respectively, as well as emergency medical personnel from Grand Junction, LSRV EMS, and Baggs Fire and Rescue. During the first scenario—a two-vehicle rollover that crashed into a family of picnickers—students were dispatched to the scene and had to figure out how to implement an Incident Command System, triage and treat the patients, and decide how they would transport these patients to area hospitals. The students were divided into groups of responders, both fire and EMS. Although the students had some background in medical treatment, few had experience with fire. The newly appointed student firefighters were taught some fundamentals of fire and rescue by Assistant Chief Jared Wille and his crew. The students had multiple patients to triage, extricate, and eventually treat. The scene had the added chaos of actors from the community that intervened and distracted the students while they attempted to provide care to the injured patients. In between scenarios, the students completed various skill stations. These stations included reading heart rhythm strips, the placement of chest tubes, airway management, and tying sutures.
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