On Monday 14 March, some of our U4 pupils took on the roles of paediatric patients for the UEA Critical Incident Training Day for Child Nursing students. Pupil Thomas Lodge has written about the day:

"A group of U4 pupils who had expressed an interest in Medicine were invited by the UEA Nursing Faculty to attend a Critical Incident Day. The purpose of the day was to assist final year Nursing Students simulate real life incidents as part of their degree. We were accompanied by Mr Wilson (Head of Biology) and Mrs Wood.

We arrived at the appropriately named Edith Cavell building for a day of immersive simulation. The ground floor became a hospital, the car park the scene of a traffic collision and the picnic area a gas explosion. Some of our pupils wore make up to make them look like they had been injured, and the resulting “wounds" looked very realistic and quite scary.  Other pupils were playing the role of concerned relatives and I was lucky enough to sound the starting horn and help the nursing staff in assessing and treating the patients.

I must admit that the role playing felt very real and I found that I really enjoyed getting practically involved and coordinating the patient’s care. I was soon adept at working the blood pressure monitor and even got to wear the nursing uniform! I discovered that I like working as part of a team, I’m quite methodical and really enjoyed trying to “solve" the complex situation we were presented with. After the morning and afternoon sessions we all gathered as a group in the lecture hall and discussed what went well and what did not go so well.

I thoroughly enjoyed the day and it has definitely sparked an interest in a medical career. It has made me realise that I am quite practical and liked helping people in trouble – you just do not know what you are interested in until you have had a go. I hope that this will lead to more partnership outreach programmes for the School."