DES PLAINES, IL--(Marketwired - July 29, 2016) - The Emergency Nurses Association has earned a 2016 ASAE Power of A Silver Award for its surprise Mass Casualty Incident Training Drill executed at the Emergency Nursing 2015 conference in Orlando last fall.
ASAE honored the program which advocated for patient safety and excellence by immersing nurses in a realistic mass casualty incident, forcing them to think on their feet during a mock active shooter situation. Of the more than 2,500 general session attendees, 60 emergency nurse volunteers tended to the "victims" -- 90 local volunteer actors, including EMT students and amputees, who displayed life-like wounds and acted out injuries. Attendee response to the drill was overwhelmingly positive and has since been made available to the public on ENA's YouTube channel.
"Congratulations to ENA and its partners for their hard work, and for helping to make the world a better place," said Sharon J. Swan, FASAE, CAE, Chief Executive Officer of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, and chair of the Power of A Awards Judging Committee. "Their initiative exemplifies how associations are a positive force in our everyday lives -- not just to the profession or industry they represent, but to society at large."
For more than a year, ENA collaborated with Orlando-based First Response Training Group, LLC, the Wounded Warrior Project, emergency nurses, cutting-edge medical supply companies, volunteers, and the local media to execute the drill which took place at the Emergency Nursing 2015 conference in the Orange County Convention Center. Boston Marathon bombing first responder Daniel Nadworny, MSN, RN, provided keynote remarks and moderated the drill. Attendees also learned about critical incident stress management following the drill -- an often overlooked concept that aims to help healthcare providers cope with traumatic events.
"There's no denying mass casualty incidents are on the rise. We needed to provide conference attendees with a comprehensive mass casualty incident training educational event unlike anything ENA previously executed," said ENA Interim Executive Director and Past President Matthew F. Powers, MS, BSN, RN, MICP, CEN. "Our conference attendees rose to the occasion and performed exceedingly well in an all-too-realistic drill, and we're proud to make the video of that session available to the public for free."
ENA is reinventing its mass casualty incident training education this year at Emergency Nursing 2016 September 13-17 in Los Angeles. Joseph G. Kotora Jr., DO, MPH, FACEP, Regional EMS Medical Director for the Navy, will share best practices for responding to a mass casualty incident during the Opening Session on Thursday, September 15.