Medicine students team up to win Emergency Medical Challenge
A team of Monash University medicine students were victorious for the second year running in the Emergency Medical Challenge held at the Australian Medical Student Association (AMSA) 2023 National Convention on the Gold Coast.
The convention is the largest student-run conference in the world and brings together over 800 medical students from across Australia and New Zealand to participate in an academic and social program, enhanced by intervarsity competitions, field trips, workshops and a trade show.
Led by Bachelor of Medical Science (Hons)/Doctor of Medicine and PhD pathway student Madeline Green, the Monash team took on students from the University of Adelaide to win the Emergency Medical Challenge by best managing a mass casualty event scenario at a mock music festival.
The two teams competed in the final following a tough round of heats in which teams from 14 different universities took part, and the Monash team were declared the winners by a judging panel of doctors after scoring the highest marks for both patient management and teamwork.
In a single 16 minute period, the team of six students effectively managed seven “patients” afflicted by a variety of serious conditions, including a lightning strike causing cardiac arrest, a GHB overdose, a broken leg caused by a crush injury, neuroleptic malignant syndrome, autonomic dysreflexia, status epilepticus secondary to serotonin syndrome and unconscious hypoglycemia.
Madeline said the experience put the team to the test in making clinical decisions under pressure in a low-resource setting outside of a hospital environment. “We had to communicate, delegate, triage and trust each other to follow through,” she said.
“The hardest thing to manage was staying aware of each patient’s condition, ensuring the right calls were made, providing advice to our pre-clinical students on the team, and making decisions that could really affect the outcomes for the simulated patients, which is not something we’re normally exposed to as junior doctors,” she said. “The teamwork element was critical in our success, and I’m so proud of the way we worked together.”
Prior to the event, the team practiced emergency medicine scenarios in the simulated clinical area within the Casey Hospital Education Space, and were supported by Monash medicine alum Dr Jordan Zalcman, a Peninsula Health junior doctor and member of last year’s winning challenge team.
Dr Zalcman coached and mentored the team on assessing and managing deteriorating patients, and created and ran numerous simulations to support the team to manage the practical and tangible aspects of patient assessments, while sharpening the team’s skills in delegation, communication and adaptability.
Dr Zalcman said that he was proud of the team’s accomplishments and felt lucky to have been part of their journey. “It’s also amazing to see how the Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences faculty is so supportive of medical students furthering their ambitions and developing their skillsets outside of the classroom and placement environments,” he said. “Without their support over the years, I’m fairly certain Monash wouldn’t nearly have the same level of passion, let alone success, when it comes to this brilliant student initiative.”
Deputy Dean (Medicine) Professor Michelle Leech was delighted to hear of the team’s win in the Emergency Medical Challenge. “What makes us so proud of these students is that, even more than just the incredible knowledge and skills required to manage a challenging multi-patient scenario, they showed exemplary communication and team work skills,” she said. “This really makes the biggest impact on making the world safer for patients.”
The challenge success also helped the Monash team to take out the entire Convention Cup, won by accumulating the highest number of points across the Emergency Medical Challenge, simulated patient participation, a 3 Minute Thesis win, a second place finish in a debating competiton and attendance at academic plenary sessions.
Madeline also praised the strong, friendly and supportive culture fostered by the Monash University Delegation and the Australian Medical Students’ Association (AMSA) volunteers. “Our Monash contingent are already involved with organising next year’s AMSA convention in Melbourne”, she said. “A big shout out to all the Monash medicine students who contribute to making these events so valuable and worthwhile for everyone.”
About Monash University
Monash University is Australia’s largest university with more than 80,000 students. In the 60 years since its foundation, it has developed a reputation for world-leading high-impact research, quality teaching, and inspiring innovation.
With four campuses in Australia and a presence in Malaysia, China, India, Indonesia and Italy, it is one of the most internationalised Australian universities.
As a leading international medical research university with the largest medical faculty in Australia and integration with leading Australian teaching hospitals, we consistently rank in the top 50 universities worldwide for clinical, pre-clinical and health sciences.
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