Back to basics

Second-year KCOM student Brad Scoggins thinks that every medical student should know the basics of saving a life – before they enter medical school. To achieve that goal, he has partnered with John Rickelman, D.O., ’00, Daraban Human Patient Simulation Center staff David Patterson and Elaine Louder, Associate Dean Steve Laird, D.O., the Student Government Association, and the local chapter of the service fraternity APO to train first-year medical students in basic life support (BLS) and the use of automatic electronic defibrillators.

“The most important goal is that students are able to fulfill the role society expects of them,” said Scoggins. “The whole gamut of healthcare providers needs to know how to do this. We need students who are confident and competent in providing this type of care outside a hospital environment.”

Now, thanks to Scoggins, KCOM students take a BLS course before their first year, at a lower cost, and using the University’s human patient simulators for practice. Thirty-six students can be trained simultaneously using flat screens and test out at the end of the course.

So far, 140 first- and second-year students have been trained, and more are on the schedule. Scoggins hopes to eventually offer the course to ATSU faculty and staff, as well as the community, and to raise money to purchase enough $2,000 AEDs to be placed in strategic spots across Campus. During the course, Scoggins also is training students to be instructors.

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