ust like anywhere else, campuses hold countless possibilities for medical emergencies. Campuses often accommodate thousands of students of diverse backgrounds, many of whom have unique medical needs. This paired with the constant possibility of injuries, viral outbreaks, and mental health crises that can occur makes it hard to justify a small medical team.
Medical emergencies come in all shapes and sizes and often take a team of people to address. It’s hard to justify having just one nurse on staff at a college campus. That’s why campuses must recruit a comprehensive medical team that can address a wide range of emergencies.
Follow along as we explore the importance of a skilled and varied medical team that can accommodate the unique medical needs of college campuses.
Campus Emergencies Wear Many Faces
No two campus emergencies look alike, and that’s why it’s hard to find a single person to address them. Instead, campuses should recruit a versatile team full of professionals who can treat a variety of medical emergencies, such as:
Viral Outbreaks
A viral outbreak can take a large toll on campuses, such as influenza or COVID-19. After all, students typically live in close quarters on campus and mingle with different groups of people between their classes. Viruses spread quickly on campus and often leave nurses and medics with a long line of students to tend to.
This can create a large backlog, and it can also prevent the nurses from tending to other emergencies. It’s much easier to ensure everyone gets proper care if the medical team is large and versatile. That way, a few people can tend to students showing flu symptoms while others with a stomach bug, for example.
College campuses also have a high rate of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The sensitive nature of STIs prevents some people from going forward right away. This would be much easier if the campus had at least one person on the team who could discreetly treat the issue while others focused on other emergencies.
Mental Illness
Today, many campuses offer more mental health support than ever. Mental health treatment is often necessary on campus where many students experience anxiety and depression. Some students don’t even discover mental health symptoms until they enter college.
Students must be able to seek mental health support even in the wake of medical emergencies on campus. In some cases, this may mean expanding the medical team to ensure students can seek help even amid a viral outbreak. A versatile team means that students with specific issues can get help from someone who specializes in said issue.
That way, a student suffering from panic attacks won’t have to wait behind a long line of students with flu-like symptoms to get help.
Mental Health Crises
Campuses must not only treat basic mental illness, but they must also quickly address mental health crises. Mental health crises can lead to avoidable tragedies, such as suicide and severe injury due to self-harm. Addressing a mental health crisis is different than counseling students who suffer from depression and anxiety.
Crises intervention requires a specific skill set that is needed to round out a campus medical team. Suicide prevention and crisis intervention efforts require collaboration and communication. Medical teams must educate teachers and administrators about what to look out for.
Once teachers know how to identify a student in need, they can coordinate the proper care and attention. It’s equally important to let students know about the importance of mental crisis intervention and the available resources.
Violent Incidents
Unfortunately, campuses are still prone to violent encounters that injure and traumatize students. Whether it be a shooting or a physical altercation, students must get help right away. Violent incidents are the biggest reason why campuses must have a large medical team.
Several medical personnel are needed even if just a single person suffers a serious injury. This ensures that they can get stabilized and get treatment as soon as possible. However, severe violent incidents that injure many students require as much help as possible.
Academic institutions with large student populations have the responsibility to treat as many people at once. It’s also important that students who suffer or witness violent incidents can easily access therapy.
Disasters
Campuses are just as susceptible to disasters as any other location. This includes tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, and even electrical fires. Disasters of all kinds can cause serious injuries ranging from broken bones to severe burns.
Such incidents often require campus medical teams to work in conjunction with local emergency services. However, campuses must have enough medical personnel to treat such injuries before emergency services arrive. Campuses can reduce the risk of some medical emergencies if they evacuate before a natural disaster strikes.
However, that isn’t an option when an electrical or grease fire breaks out. It helps to include a few people experienced in traumatic injury treatment on your medical team.
Collaboration is Key
The only way to ensure that a medical team can accommodate a campus’s needs is to prioritize collaboration and communication. Campus medical teams must share information and carefully assign tasks to maximize efficiency. It’s all important for medical teams and campus security to share information.
They can work in conjunction to provide safety tips and run drills. Such information and drills can help ensure a speedy and safe evacuation. A skilled, large, and versatile medical team is needed to keep a campus safe during emergencies.
