Realistic simulation as an assessment activity for health postgraduate students is an effective methodology that develops essential skills in students, such as applying the victim triage method - START [1], caring for polytrauma victims, and making decisions under pressure. In addition, it promotes teamwork and effective communication, which are essential in emergency care, allowing students to receive immediate feedback after the experiment. This study aims to report the experience of applying an assessment activity to postgraduate students in urgency and emergency care, in a simulated disaster scenario. Fifty-five students were directed to an auditorium and exposed to a problem through a video that portrayed the explosion of a company cafeteria due to a gas leak. After the video was shown, some students, according to their performance during the course, were selected by the teachers to occupy the position of team leaders, which were: triage leader, red tarpaulin, green tarpaulin, yellow tarpaulin, transportation sector and emergency room. The triage team classified 17 victims, duly accompanied by their shadows, who are members of the simulation represented by students from classes before the one being evaluated. The victims, meanwhile, are students from classes that had recently arrived in the course and are all characterized with makeup replicating injuries previously defined by the faculty. The scenario consisted of 6 red victims, 5 yellow ones, 5 green ones, and one black one, with the last not requiring the presence of shadows. After the classification stage, the victims were transported to their respective tarps, where the students provided the necessary care according to the pre-hospital care protocols [1]. The simulation lasted approximately 2 hours, but the activity planning required a month of work and included 3 lead teachers. On the day of the simulation, 20 teachers participated in the action. After the end of the event, a debriefing was held with all those involved, looking for opportunities for improvement, allowing the students a realistic experience. The results indicated that most students correctly classified the victims in the hot zone, providing adequate care in the cold zone, transportation, and in-hospital care. The use of the disaster simulation as an assessment methodology proved to be effective in developing students for emergencies, improving their skills, and increasing their stress tolerance. The experience reinforces the relevance of simulation in health education, promoting practical and collaborative learning, and is of great importance when incorporated into the teaching method.

References:
[1] PHTLS: Prehospital Trauma Life Support. 9th ed. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2018.

Keywords: Simulation training, Nursing students, Postgraduate studies.