UTampa physician assistant students trade textbooks for TGH Aeromed trauma training

TAMPA, Fla. - A Tampa General Hospital (TGH) Aeromed helicopter landed on the turf at University of Tampa's Pepin Stadium Friday to give physician assistant (PA) students a real-world look at critical care transport.

"If you're a critical patient who has a critical emergency, and you're going to be dropped off and transported with this bird, you will likely be seeing a PA as part of your medical team at any hospital that you go to," Zak Kossiver, academic director of University of Tampa’s Physician Assistant (PA) Medicine Program, said. "So, it's important that they see each piece of this training, each piece of this big ball of medicine getting broken down into small, digestible pieces, so they understand the whole picture."

What we know:

On Friday, around 75 UTampa students and staff gathered at Pepin Stadium as a TGH Aeromed helicopter touched down in the middle of the field.

TGH Aeromed crews transport patients from trauma scenes. They also transport sick patients who need to travel between hospitals. 

The goal of Friday’s demonstration was to show PA students the resources crews use to provide critical care to a patient before landing at the hospital. 

"I'm just hoping to learn more about how they control their care in situations like this. It's such a high-stress environment," said Savannah Williams, a first-year PA student at UTampa. "I can't imagine understanding this just in a classroom and not getting to see it in person today, so we're very lucky."

Dig deeper:

Flight crews pack a major punch into a tiny space. They fly equipped with whole blood products, advanced airway equipment, life-saving medications, and other technology to provide critical care to patients mid-flight. 

For the students, seeing the physical limitations of the aircraft put the rapid turnaround times of emergency medicine into a stark new perspective.

"I sat in the chair (in the helicopter), and you can kind of tell it's a very cramped space," said Miguel Escobar, a first-year PA student at UTampa. "So, to be able to do these procedures that these people are doing and bring us these patients so we can stabilize them is absolutely nothing short of incredible."

Why you should care:

Once the helicopter lands at the hospital, a PA – possibly studying at UTampa right now – could be part of the medical team that’s waiting for you. 

"You will see my students. PAs work in almost every field of practice. They work in emergency medicine, family practice, hospitals, everywhere. Anywhere there’s medicine going on, there will be a PA there," Kossiver explained. "So, it's important because we need to train our students on a diverse full spectrum of medicine, right?"

Kossiver, who organized Friday’s demonstration, said this inside look at critical transport bridges the gap between textbook theory and real-world trauma care.

"It's important that they see each piece of this training, each piece of this big ball of medicine getting broken down into small, digestible pieces, so they understand the whole picture," Kossiver added.