Students win first place in emergency medicine simulation competition

By Sarah Jane Grisham

Simwars Web
Left to right in photo above are first-place team members Reese Allen, Tavisty Tarkenton, Michael Baillio, Colin Bumann and Brooke Beck; and Kate Phillips, who competed last year and this year was a scenario writer. Also pictured is the infant manikin that was part of the emergency scenario.

A group of UNT Health Center medical students have won first place in a statewide medical emergency simulation contest.

The UNTHSC’s Student Initiative in Medical Simulation (SIMS) interest group competed in the “Sim Wars” contest held recently in Houston.

In Sim Wars, groups of five students each are given a scenario in which they must use a combination of their medical knowledge and skills in patient care and treatment to make an appropriate diagnosis and execute the proper steps.

Each team is given eight minutes in a simulated clinical setting and is judged by a panel of emergency room physicians.

The first-place team members were TCOM students Reese Allen, Tavisty Tarkenton, Michael Baillio, Colin Bumann and Brooke Beck.

UNTHSC Director of Simulation Nancy Tierney, who also serves as faculty adviser for the SIMS interest group, said the students’ performance at the competition “helps them to see and understand all of the practical information and knowledge they learned in the classroom.”

“It gives students the confidence they need and helps them cement things in their head,” Tierney said. “And when you boil it all down, it is really all about providing for the patient’s safety.”

The UNTHSC team’s victory was hard-earned, requiring a large amount of practice and preparation. The group placed second at last year’s competition.

“This competition was the pinnacle of our team’s hard work,” said Baillio, a second-year medical student. “We have been learning and competing together since early first year — our achievement validates the effort spent, and I am honored to work with such an outstanding group of future doctors.”

Another UNTHSC SIMS Team comprising Stormy Weiss, Bianca Arechiga, Justin Richardson, Cassie Robertson and Gabe Cecenas made it to the semifinals.

The competition is hosted annually at a conference of the Texas College of Emergency Physicians (TCEP).

Recent News

Clearfield
  • Our People
|Sep 29, 2023

Dr. Michael Clearfield the inaugural winner of the Beyer, Everett, and Luibel Memorial Medal

For more than two decades, Dr. Michael B. Clearfield, DO, MACOI, FACP, has developed the Department of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine into one of the largest and most productive academically in the osteopathic profession, serving as the chair from 1982-...
Kari Northeim 2 (002)[66]
  • Our People
|Sep 28, 2023

HSC’s Dr. Kari Northeim and Parker County collaborators awarded SAMHSA grant for rural EMS training and education

Dr. Kari Northeim, School of Public Health assistant professor of population and community health at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, has been awarded the SAMHSA Rural EMS Training and Education grant in conjunction with HSC community partners, Parker County Hospi...
Graci Finco
  • Research
|Sep 28, 2023

SBS researchers publish innovative study in Nature Scientific Reports 

People with leg amputations, including those with diabetes, run the risk of overuse injuries like osteoarthritis, muscle atrophy or bone breaks in their intact limbs.   Now, new research is quantifying the impacts of amputations and diabetes, a leading cause of amputation, on those overuse ...
Frank Filipetto Cropped For Social
  • On Campus
|Sep 28, 2023

HSC’s Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine to host symposium on ‘Creating Change in Health Care Delivery’

Americans have soured on the U.S. health care system, according to a Gallup poll taken earlier this year. Most of those surveyed rate health care quality as subpar, including 31% saying it is “only fair” and 21% — a new high — calling it “poor.” The U.S. ranked nearly last compared w...