OhioHealth Holds Sports Medicine Simulation Training for School Athletic Sports Events
As student athletes enter back into the fall and sports seasons, safety for both the athletes and their families at games is a top priority.
OhioHealth held a sports medicine simulation training at Worthington Christian High School on August 31. The OhioHealth Sports Medicine team along with the OhioHealth Simulation team taught family medicine residents and school faculty who would be providing sideline medical care at games. The combined teams worked with a medical manikin and two actors to show what could happen if someone had a spine injury, concussion or if someone went into cardiac arrest.
“The biggest part of the simulation is learning how to work as a team," OhioHealth Athletic Trainer, Amanda Moskal said. "And it's important to communicate properly with everyone because we want everything to work very smoothly and seamlessly to make sure that the patient is taken care of properly.”
OhioHealth Simulation team members are able to control the manikin's every breath, sound, and create a variety of scenarios within the body that could happen during a medical crisis.
The manikin used at the training was placed in the stands and programmed to go into cardiac arrest.
“He's going to give us a bit of a groan, and his family member who is here with him, is going to say he needs some help and based on what our learners do he'll be able to respond accordingly,” Emergency Physician, System Medical Director for OhioHealth Simulation team, Brad Gable, MD, said.
During the training, two actors showcased what injuries could happen on the field to student athletes. Part of that training is getting them off of the field to treat them in a pre-hospital setting. 
“Their learning the anatomy of a helmet, the anatomy of shoulder pads, learning how to properly remove and hold c-spine and remove shoulder pads all at the same time,” Moskal said.
According to Moskal, most high schools in the Columbus area employ athletic trainers or are contracted with a healthcare system to provide medical coverage for athletic events.
“Varsity football games will most likely have at least one athletic trainer and one physician on the sidelines," Moskal continues to say, “There will be less medical staff at sub varsity and middle school events.”
If at an athletic event, Dr. Gable recommends the following:
- Know your surroundings - in any large event know where emergency resources are such as AEDs, nurse/medic/trainer/aid stations.
- Get help - utilize the above resources, and call for help early, involve 911 or use local protocols that may be faster (getting event staff to the emergency may allow them to use back channels/resources that were predetermined.
- Know when to get out of the way - when people with more expertise arrive, ask what they need, and then stay back and allow them to do their job.
