Theatrical Hair and Media Make-up Students Create Casualty Simulations for Sheffield Hallam University Paramedic Students.

Theatrical Hair and Media Make-up students from University Centre Rotherham (UCR) have used their skills to create casualty simulations for Sheffield Hallam University’s paramedic students to treat as part of their crucial training and assessment.

Casualty simulations were created at the Lifewise Centre, Rotherham, on manikins, using specialist make-up to replicate bruising and open wounds. Sheffield Hallam University paramedic students then had to go through different real-life scenarios and treat the casualties that were set up by the UCR Media Make-up students.

University Centre Rotherham students had to develop prototypes for the paramedics, with other students managing the scenarios and injury types. Students were able to watch the simulations being treated, working closely with the paramedic team.

The activities at the Lifewise Centre were spread across three days, with different Sheffield Hallam students attending each day. Freya Dunning, a Foundation Degree in Theatrical Hair and Media Make-up student at UCR, attended all three days along with the rest of her course peers as part of her assessment.

Using her knowledge from her degree, Freya was able to create high-quality casualty simulation prototypes which the paramedics were able to treat. One scenario included two broken femurs’ as part of a bicycle road collision accident. Speaking about the experience, Freya underlined the importance of seeing how the accidents are treated to help her understand how to create future looks.

She said: ‘’Seeing the Sheffield Hallam University paramedic students treat my simulations helps me to understand how the make-up actually looks once the situation has started, and how I can improve this in the future.

‘’Watching how they react to what I have created helps me understand the seriousness of the injury, which I can then adapt and build on within my career. Casualty simulation is used in many different careers; therefore, this is a great experience that I can learn from once I graduate.’’

Katie Asgari, Curriculum Team Leader in Hair and Media Make-up at UCR, assisted the students on their three-day assessment at the Centre. She believes that this type of activity is important for the students to see their make-up creations be used in real-life situations and assist further with the studying of anatomy.

She said: ‘’Seeing the paramedics treat the student’s make-up creations is important to help them understand how their skills can develop wounds of different severities.

‘’Casualty simulation can be used in TV and Media and can be used for training days within the Army or NHS. Their make-up creations are important as getting the brief of the injury correct ensure that it is accurate for whoever may be working on the simulation.

‘’Seeing their work make a difference by training future paramedics is really inspiring to other students.’’

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