Close to 300 students learn how to save lives during ninth annual Mass Casualty Incident Training

The Val Jahnke Fire Training Facility in Houston buzzed with activity as UTHealth Houston students participated in the ninth annual Mass Casualty Incident Training on Nov. 22. The event provided participants with hands-on experience in responding to large-scale disaster scenarios.

Designed to simulate the chaos of real-world emergencies, this year’s training revolved around a train derailment, with students working in triage, treatment, and transport roles to manage hundreds of “patients.”

The training featured various stages, including incident command operations, triage of mock victims, and hands-on treatment scenarios. Faculty, emergency professionals, and students collaborated to create realistic simulations, such as escalating patient conditions and unexpected violent scenarios.

“The most challenging aspect is the chaoticness of the situation — responding fast to patients while keeping an eye on those who may appear stable but aren’t,” said Calvin Dao, a fourth-year student at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. “Hopefully, it will prepare me for real emergencies.”

This year’s event, funded by the Emergency and Trauma Care Education Partnership Program grant from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, incorporated refined educational objectives and enhanced organization, according to Elda Ramirez, PhD, RN, executive director of the Center for Interprofessional Collaboration at UTHealth Houston.

“This event has probably been one of the most organized we’ve ever had,” said Ramirez, who is also the Dorothy T. Nicholson Distinguished Professor at Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston. “We really focused on making the education outward-facing, providing students with tools like triage cards and hands-on training in lifesaving skills like ‘Stop the Bleed.’ That skill alone can save lives, and if our students take just that away, it’s brilliant.”

Stop the Bleed is a grassroots national awareness campaign and call to action, which encourages bystanders to become trained, equipped, and empowered to help in a bleeding emergency before professional help arrives. D’Hania Miller, lab nurse educator at Cizik School of Nursing, coordinated the instructors to provide the training for students.  

“We approached the education differently this year,” said Debbie McCrea, EdD, MSN, EMT-P, event organizer and assistant professor at Cizik School of Nursing. “Our goal was to make it less chaotic initially and more educationally focused, though disaster training often thrives on chaos because it forces quick thinking and adaptability.”

The day’s schedule included pre-event education, live simulations, and a debriefing session where participants reflected on their experiences. With students from diverse disciplines — including nursing, medicine, biomedical informatics, and public health — the event emphasized interprofessional collaboration and the importance of structured disaster response frameworks.

“Some of our participants may never work in emergency medicine,” McCrea said, “but we teach them that they could still be the first responders in their communities. This training gives them the confidence to act.”

As part of the evolving program, this year’s training included scenarios like managing worsening patient conditions and addressing an active shooter threat, adding complexity to the simulated disaster response.

Ramirez expressed pride in the program’s ongoing growth and impact.

“Whether it’s the drama of the simulation or the depth of the education, we’re building a legacy of preparedness that benefits not just our students, but the community at large,” she said.

Kevin Schulz, MD, associate professor of emergency medicine at McGovern Medical School and a surprise participant of the Houston SWAT, is heavily involved in the planning of the event and spoke of the magnitude of this year’s training.

“This was one of our biggest events in a while. There was a ton of work that went into this,” Schulz said. “The most important thing going into today was that everybody stayed safe and that we had a good time learning something. I also want to give a special shoutout and thank you to the Houston Fire Department for hosting us. They are an essential part of this whole event and making sure that this goes smoothly.”

The UTHealth Houston Mobile Simulation Training Unit was also present on-site as a resource for the students. Within the Simulation Training Unit, students had access to a high-fidelity simulator and were able to bring one onto the grounds in the “yellow zone” where patients awaited assistance.

This year’s event included participation from 279 students and 43 faculty and staff, with an additional 15 Houston Fire Department cadets offering support.

Participants included:

• Houston Fire Department cadets
• Houston Police SWAT Team
• McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston
• Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston
  • Emergency Nurse Practitioner Program
  • Family Nurse Practitioner Program
  • Adult/Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Program
  • Adult/Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program
  • Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Program
  • Undergraduate Nursing Program
• UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry Dental Hygiene Program
• McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics at UTHealth Houston
• UTHealth Houston School of Public Health
• UTHealth Houston Center for Interprofessional Collaboration
• Southeast Texas Advisory Council
• Texas A&M University
• The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center School of Health Professions