In the Field

Cascade grants give students the opportunity to gain vital experience outside of their studies and develop skills they can share with fellow peers, as well as helping them later in life.

Last year nine members from the Wilderness Medicine Society were able to attend the Major Incident Medical Management and Support (MIMMS).

A major incident is one of the most serious challenges faced by the NHS, often involving a large number of casualties or deemed to present a serious threat to the health and safety of the public.

Examples include multi-vehicle road traffic collisions, mountain and cave rescue or even explosions. The course gave students the hands-on experience and skills to deal with these stressful and dangerous situations. A rigorous three-day course saw the group put through their paces as they learned from the experts about what happens behind the scenes of a major incident to ensure the best quality patient care.

Without your donations, the society would not have had the funds to attend and it’s not just the nine students that participated in MIMMS that will benefit from what they learned. The Wilderness Medicine Society is passionate about sharing knowledge, so the lessons from MIMMS will be a key part of their teaching throughout the upcoming year, helping more medical students develop the skills to learn potentially life-saving skills.

Alex Roche, 5th year medical student, described the benefits of the course. “It gave a great insight to what goes on behind the scenes at major incidents to ensure as many people are helped as possible. The benefits to me were increased confidence in accurate triaging in an emergency situation, plus the development of my communication and critical thinking skills.

“I want to focus on these skills to help other students grow confident in effective triage, ensuring the right person receives the right treatment, and goes to the right hospital the first time.”

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