Major Incident Training

Today was my Major Incident (MI) Training Day. We were split up from our usualy cohort so we were with people we didn't know from the other branches. I was with one mental health nurse adn four adult nurses. When I arrived I was really looking forward to the day, the others clearly were not.

"What a waste of time this is going to be"
"What's the point"
"I'm not going to learn anything"

Not with that kind of attitude you're not. So that was a little disheartening.

We were given a very short introduction, but the day focussed around a theoretical Major Incident, we were given four trigger scenarios for it. We discussed each trigger and answered questions, then the 8 groups took turns to feed back. We were given 3 resources on MI Procedure and the facilitators wandered around to help us. After each scenario we took time to reflect on what we had learned.

The day required rather a lot of brain power, but I found it a really good way to learn. It was by far the best EBL session I have had, and I really appreciated the learning approach. It looked at all aspects of a MI; from driving past the scene of a crash and what our duties were as a registered nurse, to how the scene would be managed, to how the hospital would manage the influx of patients, to how we would deal with friends and relatives and breaking bad news.

I want my nursing career to be in A&E so I anticipate this will be quite helpful, and at the very least the certificate will look good in my Portfolio!