Medicine students celebrate third consecutive win at Emergency Medical Challenge
A team of Monash University medicine students were victorious for the third year* running in the Emergency Medical Challenge held at the Australian Medical Student Association (AMSA) 2024 National Convention in Melbourne. A big congratulations to Madeline Green, Jessica Yu, James Gunasegaram, Bella Shelton, Evie Lee and Ryan Khan on their extraordinary achievement.
The AMSA 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 incorporating research presentations, debating and sports competitions, and unparalleled peer networking.
Led by Bachelor of Medical Science (Hons)/Doctor of Medicine and PhD student Madeline Green, the Monash team completed 8 stations, along with 15 other university teams. Having made it to the finale, Monash took on students from the University of Adelaide to win the Emergency Medical Challenge (EMC) by best managing a mass casualty event scenario at a football match.
The event ran for 20 intense minutes and included patient simulations of various afflictions and acuity. From an intracranial haemorrhage, acute pancreatitis, a splenic bleed and hemorrhagic shock, to a fractured leg, and a nosebleed.
Madeline described the importance of trust and communication amongst the team as being vital to their success. “You really have to have complete faith in everyone you're working with, and know that they'll do their job while you do yours,” she said. She also credits the strong EMC culture among Monash students and passion for the competition. “We had so many students apply for the team this year, who were all amazing, and it was very tricky to select the final team. The team itself got along really well, and meshed together.”
However, even for experienced competitors like Madeline, there’s no shortage of challenges. “The hardest thing to manage was maintaining situational awareness during the finale. As team leader I had to be across the status of each patient, and what my team members were doing, while having to triage, delegate and respond to rapidly changing conditions,” she said. These challenges were further compounded by “a strong urge to get involved and help patients, but I knew I could best support my team by trusting them to do their jobs.”
Prior to the event, the team trained in a low tech simulation room at the Victorian Heart Hospital, as well as at each other’s houses. They were supported by Monash medicine alumni and previous EMC competitors Dr Jordan Zalcman, Dr Atacan Ertugrul who helped with preparations and ran mock stations. Individual team members were also allocated categories of emergencies to focus their preparations on, which facilitated a divide-and-conquer approach on the day.
Deputy Dean (Medicine) Professor Michelle Leech was delighted to hear of the team’s third consecutive win in the Emergency Medical Challenge. “We couldn’t be more proud of these students. Their skills from an academic and team communication perspective are just extraordinary to manage these very tricky scenarios,” she said. “Bravo and congratulations to each of them.”
The challenge success also helped the Monash Delegation take out the entire Convention Cup for the second year in a row. In addition to points won in the Emergency Medical Challenge, Monash celebrated a Brainiest Med Student win, a second place finish in the 3 Minute Thesis competition, second place for our Case-Competition team, and some great results by the sports teams.
Madeline also praised the Monash University Delegation and the Australian Medical Students’ Association (AMSA) volunteers for putting together an amazing conference, the success of which speaks volumes about their effort and dedication. “The AMSA team runs this conference in addition to all of the other advocacy work and support they provide medical students and we are fortunate to be part of this community,” she said.
She also described the incredible culture of the Monash Delegation. “We had 141 students attend the convention, and it was fantastic to see so many people from different year levels getting to know each other and engaging with all the academic, social and competition elements of the convention. The EMC competition, while a bit stressful, is so much fun, and it's a great opportunity to test your knowledge and skills in a simulated environment.”
*See 2023 Medicine students team's Emergency Medical Challenge success story HERE.
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.
For more news, visit Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences or Monash University.
MEDIA ENQUIRIES