Students Simulate Injuries for Sheffield Hallam Student Paramedics

From severed arms to electrical burns, University Centre Rotherham Specialist Media Make-up students have created a variety of realistically-gruesome mock injuries for the next generation of local Paramedics to train on.

Hosted at the Lifewise Centre, a selection of immersive injury simulations were held in mocked-up gardens, a street and pub for Sheffield Hallam Paramedic students to work on.

University Centre Rotherham HNC Specialist Media Make-up student Jessica Bloor made up Paramedic Student John Garvey to look as if he had lost his lower right arm in a chainsaw accident.

Jessica said: “I have created a prosthetic, realistic bruising and used special effects glue to create a realistic-looking severed arm. You learn these skills at Level 2 and 3 and I’m very pleased with how my effects look today.”
“I want to do my PGCE to teach, so these skills are definitely needed for me to have the required knowledge to teach effectively in the future.”

John added: “I am a Paramedic student myself and find this sort of activity benefits my learning. The Paramedic students don’t know the injuries they will be working on today so this realism is great; it provides an immersive value and demands them to act quickly. It prepares them for these kinds of situations when they’re out in the field.”

Sheffield Hallam University Senior Lecturer in Paramedic Science accompanied her students to the Lifewise Centre and saw the injury effects that University Centre Rotherham students created for the simulations.

Sharyn said: “I love this. The moulage effects are very realistic – they add context to our teaching as they provoke a natural response that you would get from seeing those injuries rather than just imaging them.”
Paramedic student Hattie Blades worked on John’s severed arm scenario.

Hattie said: “The make-up is brilliant. This effect is very realistic and looks similar to a real injury I have treated before. You actually see this and think ‘right, I need to treat this person right away.’”

University Centre Rotherham HNC Specialist Media Make-up student Emily Smith created a detailed electrical burn effect on Paramedic student Sam Cheetham. Emily also observed other Paramedic students working on Sam during the simulations.

Emily said: “I think this is a good training method as it looks very realistic for the students. It is definitely interesting to watch how they interpret the effects and treat them.”

For more information about our Specialist Media Make-up courses click here.