Bournemouth medical students respond to 'zombie attack' in huge test - as staff don't want to stress them out with a realistic terror atrocity

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Medical students have staged a zombie attack disaster to practice dealing with the aftermath of a major incident because teachers didn't want to stress them out.

Bournemouth University staff didn't want to give their pupils the 'stress' of a realistic terrorist atrocity or train crash, so they made some adjustments - with first year students dressing up and wearing makeup.

A student from Arts University Bournemouth in Dorset provided 'film-grade special effects' and make-up to give victims 'injuries' like severe head wounds, eviscerated bowels and arterial bleeding.

Staff put together a news-flash film telling the 50 paramedic students from Bournemouth University what had happened before they responded.

Adam Bancroft, one of the organisers, said previously they had staged scenarios of an alien invasion and Godzilla attacking Bournemouth to make the learning experience more enjoyable for students.

Medical students have staged a zombie attack disaster to practice dealing with the aftermath of a major incident because teachers didn't want to stress them out

University staff didn't want to give their pupils the 'stress' of a realistic terrorist atrocity or train crash, so they made some adjustments - with first year students dressing up 

Second year paramedic students and some actors were brought in to play the patients

Students had to triage and treat multiple patients suffering a variety of serious and gory wounds and were overseen by professional paramedics.

Una Brosnan, a paramedic lecturer and co-organiser at Bournemouth University, said: 'The idea is to make it quite tongue-in-cheek for the students so they don't get that peril or danger and it reduces that level of stress for them.

'We could have done a natural disaster or a terrorist attack which would be quite scary for everyone and we decided to go for a more tongue-in-cheek approach.

'The premise might be quite farcical but the injury patterns and mechanisms are very real.'

Second year paramedic students and some actors were brought in to play the patients.

The first day saw 50 paramedic students tackle Ground Zero before 300 nurses practised their skills in a field hospital on the second day.

Mr Bancroft, programme leader for paramedic sciences, said: 'It started in lockdown - we did an alien invasion, last year we did Godzilla and this year we are re-enacting the apocalypse.

'It gets people's attention when you're presenting a conference but also with what's going on in the world today we didn't want to focus on terrorism or something like that.

The first day saw 50 paramedic students tackle Ground Zero before 300 nurses practised their skills in a field hospital on the second day

Staff put together a news-flash film telling the 50 paramedic students from Bournemouth University what had happened before they responded

'It's a bit of fun but it also teaches the students to work with multiple casualties and patients. We create an austere environment where they are up against it in terms of resources and put them to the test with the threat and amount of distraction.

'It is a unique opportunity to put their theory into practice but have fun doing it.

'They have to get in, triage and work out who they are going to treat first.. They have to make some hard decisions and the pressure increases, but we don't push it to fail.

'We had a make-up student creating film grade special effects and make up, that adds an element of realism. The first time we did it four years ago it was more Gaffa tape and red dots.

'There's a whole team involved and months of work to put it all together.'

The university paid Rapid Response, a charity who provide food stations at major incidents, to supply the people involved with food and drink throughout the day.

Previous creative events include the invasion of a 'sea monster' last year, which made the announcement: 'We are interrupting this programme with an important news alert to inform members of public in the Bournemouth area to take cover from a sea monster that has been seen rampaging through the town centre...'