EMT Program
Join us for this exciting episode of "Just What the Doctor Ordered," as we highlight USC School of Medicine Greenville’s EMT program. Our guest is Dr. Elizabeth Mannion, a specialist in EMS and Operational Medicine, who talks about SOMG’s EMT program. Dr. Mannion discusses the EMT experience for first-year medical students and the program’s partnership with Prisma Health. The training helps SOMG’s future physicians to better understand the socioeconomic influences on the patient experience and to be prepared to face an emergency. “You want to be on a plane with our students,” says Dr. Mannion.
Kendall Givens-Little:
Hello and welcome to Just What the Doctor Ordered, the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville's Podcast, where we discuss relevant news that you can use right here in the upstate. I'm one of your hosts, Kendall Givens-Little, Director of Strategic Communications here at the university, and my co-host...
Jenn Maness:
Hello everyone.
Kendall Givens-Little:
What's up?
Jenn Maness:
This is Jenn Maness. I'm the Philanthropic Giving Manager at Prisma Health, and I am so excited to be here today.
Kendall Givens-Little:
Great. We're excited to have you, but we have an even better treat for our listeners today, Jenn.
Jenn Maness:
That's right.
Kendall Givens-Little:
Today we're going to be discussing the Emergency Medicine Training program, the EMT program here at the School of Medicine Greenville, and we have the wonderful, awesome director, Dr. Elizabeth Mannion, who is over that particular program here with us today in studio. So Dr. Mannion, welcome.
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
That is the best intro I've ever gotten in my life. Thank you, Kendall. What a treat.
Kendall Givens-Little:
Well, Jenn and I are excited to have you here.
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
Thank you.
Kendall Givens-Little:
We want to jump right in and learn more about you and what you do here at the university. So we'll start by, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
How about when I took my EMT course for the first time?
Kendall Givens-Little:
Tell us all about that.
Jenn Maness:
Let's do that.
Kendall Givens-Little:
Yeah, let's do it.
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
2004, we were doing stuff back then that we don't do anymore, and it's been a while. But after that, I decided to work as a patient care technician. That was one of my first jobs in high school in our local ER in Connecticut, where I'm from. And I decided to go to medical school. I went to Yukon, which was our state school, and then did a residency in emergency medicine in Tampa, Florida. And if you're not familiar with residencies and fellowship, after residency, you have the opportunity to do specialty training in what we call a fellowship. That's anywhere from one to two years. And I chose to do mine in EMS or emergency medical services. The calling to that was probably somewhat, my background is a patient care technician. I'm also in the Army, so I have quite...
Kendall Givens-Little:
Whoa. Wait, hold up.
Jenn Maness:
That's just a little bit of multitasking, Dr. Mannion.
Kendall Givens-Little:
So you're active duty?
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
Yeah, I multitask, I do. They say you can't do it, but... I'm reserve. I've spent active duty time, but right now I'm in a reserve unit out of Fort Bragg. And that was one of the reasons for coming to South Carolina was I wanted to be closer to my unit. I've been with them for seven years now.
Kendall Givens-Little:
Well, I think Jenn would probably agree with me when I say, well, thank you for your service.
Jenn Maness:
Absolutely. Thank you.
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
Thank you. You're very welcome. But going back to fellowship, that's how I found an interest in operational medicine, also known as combat medicine, is kind of the layman's term, but that's how I chose EMS or emergency medical services.
Jenn Maness:
So you mentioned what got you to South Carolina was a little bit of being closer to Fort Bragg, to your unit there. What got you here to School of Medicine Greenville specifically, and your involvement with the EMT program?
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
So we have a National Association of EMS Physicians, and we have an annual conference every year. That is where I met Dr. Tom Blackwell and the EMS crew here at USC School of Medicine Greenville. Dr. Blackwell introduced me to the program. I came and interviewed, and I fell in love with Greenville. I'm admittedly a little bit of a city girl, but I felt like Greenville was surprisingly very much a city, albeit a small city, and I fell in love. So I mean...
Kendall Givens-Little:
We are America's fourth-fastest growing city. Number one in the state. So yeah, a lot of folks are coming and staying.
Jenn Maness:
And for listeners, we are unapologetically biased about how much we love Greenville, so you're going to hear that a little bit.
Kendall Givens-Little:
That's right.
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
Yeah, rightfully so.
Kendall Givens-Little:
Awesome. Well, so what's the motivation behind starting the EMT program? What makes the program unique and why are you so interested in doing this here at School of Medicine? There are so many different medical schools you passed to get here. Why School of Medicine Greenville.
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
USC School of Medicine Greenville wants to provide first year medical students with a ground up experience. And the EMT course is, in my humble opinion, the best way to do that. Because you're seeing patients at the beginning of their medical experience, you're seeing the environment from which they came prior to coming to the ER. And after that they get admitted to the hospital and they receive their in-hospital care. And when they're discharged, it helps to understand what they're going back to, what they came from in planning their discharge planning and understanding them better as a human. So this is a very unique experience for medical students. Just so you know, not all medical schools have an EMT course. Many don't. We were one of the first to start an EMT course, and the fact that we do it right in the beginning, it's their first course in the M1 year, provides them with that foundational medical experience.
Jenn Maness:
From a non-clinician standpoint... Spoiler alert listeners, neither Kendall nor I are clinicians.
Kendall Givens-Little:
Nope.
Jenn Maness:
Yeah. In case you didn't catch that earlier. From a non-clinician standpoint, what I heard out of what you just said is that's incredibly beneficial to our medical students from a community standpoint. But it also sounds like it introduces them, day one, to what it's like to work as part of a healthcare team.
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
Absolutely. There's a huge team approach, and they learn to work with other EMTs, paramedics, law enforcement. When they come into the ER, they're learning to give handoffs to ER nurses, to work with emergency medicine physicians, medical students, other residents. So they learn to work as a coordinated team.
Kendall Givens-Little:
So we are one of the few medical schools that have implemented this EMT program in the first year, whereas some medical schools, they wait until the third or fourth year, and some don't even do it at all. Why is this so unique to School of Medicine Greenville? Why are we doing it in the first year now?
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
I'd like to give you an example, in best answering that question. So imagine that you see a patient in the ER, admit them, do their discharge planning, and neglect to understand that they don't have running water or electricity or any access to home healthcare when they get back to where they're living. That is an important concept to learn early on. Understanding from where your patients came prior to their medical experience and prior to their discharge is imperative to excellent patient care. And I didn't have an EMT experience early on in med school. Certainly I had had one before that, but it would've benefited myself and anybody in med school to understand the socioeconomic influences on the patient experience once they're discharged home. So it's great, it's wonderful to do for first year medical students because it will shape their experience and only enhance their experience going through the four years.
Kendall Givens-Little:
So overall, it impacts patient care.
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
It does.
Jenn Maness:
Yeah, and that translates whether or not you become an emergency medicine physician. Whatever specialty you practice, that is helpful context consideration for any patient, anywhere.
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
Absolutely.
Jenn Maness:
I'm curious what our students think about the program. What feedback have you gotten?
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
Every student has told me that they've learned something valuable. And we understand that just as you mentioned Jenn, some students know early on they're not going to go into emergency care. There was a saying in my medical school that there are two ways to feel when there's an emergency. You're either going to run to it and help or run away. And that's okay if you want to run away. I try to influence you to stay and at least provide basic care. But some students are going to want to go into orthopedic surgery or plastic surgery and aren't so much interested in EMS, which is totally fine, and we support that.
But I'd like them all to learn something valuable. And an example would be basic life support. So we have them complete their basic life support, or BLS training, as part of their EMT course, and it will teach them the basics. And I always say, if you're called to an emergency on a plane, if they ask for a doctor, regardless of what your specialty is, I want you to feel comfortable and confident dealing with that emergency. And we certainly get them there.
Kendall Givens-Little:
Wow, our students are really prepared when they get into that space.
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
Oh, yeah. You want to be on a plane with our students.
Jenn Maness:
Yes.
Kendall Givens-Little:
Yeah. Most definitely. Most definitely. So what does that process look like, Dr. Mannion, as far as the ride along? So I'm a first year student, what should I expect to happen through this EMT process?
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
200+ hours of training.
Jenn Maness:
Dang. That is not a one-day volunteer session.
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
No it's not. It goes by quickly. And you'll usually have about two 12-hour patient ride along experiences with our paramedics, with Prisma Health Ambulance Service. They've been wonderful to us in providing a large number of patient care hours for our students. In addition to that, you'll be in the classroom, you'll do both lecture with me. Some of your modules will be online, somewhat of a hybrid learning experience. And then you'll also participate in labs with one of many of our wonderful lab instructors, where you're hands-on learning how to do things like place a neck collar, also known as a cervical collar, putting patients on backboards, splinting injuries like broken bones, managing patients that are having difficulty breathing with an oxygen mask and things like that. So it's a combination of lecture, online, lab, and in-person, ride along experiences.
Jenn Maness:
That's awesome. Let's talk about taking all of that wonderful knowledge our students have, from their heads to their hands through something...
Kendall Givens-Little:
Practical.
Jenn Maness:
That's right. Practical applications. Something we call Disaster Day.
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
The Disaster Day. The famous Disaster Day. So that is something that makes our course particularly unique, Jenn. At the end of the course, we have a capstone event called Disaster Day. It is a mass casualty experience, meaning it's a large scale event where something may have happened like a plane crash or a multi-vehicle accident, or God forbid, a mass shooting. And we simulate this such that the students learn to assess the situation, triage patients, transport patients, and then get them to definitive care.
Jenn Maness:
Wow.
Kendall Givens-Little:
Yeah. It was one of the coolest things I saw last year when they did it. They had these flash bombs going off in the garage. I think there was a scenario that, I don't know if it was an earthquake or something or a bomb went off, but it went off and then the EMTs just sprung into action. And they had the standardized patients and some of the other students playing patients, but you didn't know who was who. And so it really kind of freaked me out a little bit because I saw people running out with blood everywhere, and as soon as the students would see them, they would grab them and then they would start to treat them, etc. So I think having that kind of simulation of the unknown, builds confidence in the students, so they feel what I'm prepared in whatever situation I go into. And so I think that that's a beautiful thing that we do here.
Jenn Maness:
Absolutely. And I would be remiss if I didn't add from a philanthropy perspective that drill, that EMT program has been supported through the Floor Foundation, which is a great example for our community who is curious about how to support our medical students and patient care in the area. The EMT Disaster Drill and Program are great examples of tangible support that helps the drill run, that helps support our program needs. And we've been fortunate to have our friends from Flora Foundation come and see the drill in action, which is truly incredible to Kendall's point.
Kendall Givens-Little:
So Jenn that was actually a great segue into some of our supporters. You mentioned the Floor Foundation, but as I was there at Disaster Day, I got to witness a lot of different organizations kind of partnering and helping us out. So Dr. Mannion, tell us a little bit about those partnerships and who's working with us on this disaster day.
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
Absolutely. So there are many players that help get this experience done for us. First and foremost, the SIM Center.
Kendall Givens-Little:
Okay. What's the SIM Center?
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
The SIM Center is a huge part of the medical experience here. It's a Prisma funded simulation center, which supports education, workforce development, and it supports simulation training for not only medical students, but residents, attendings, and importantly the Clemson School of Nursing as well.
Kendall Givens-Little:
Okay. We just had to kind of throw them in there, but we are the School of Medicine Greenville USC, just so you know.
Jenn Maness:
We serve everyone. And so that's a great example of training opportunities across the board, multiple agencies coming through the Simulation Center, which encapsulates a lot of what happens during Disaster Day.
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
Exactly. The Clemson School of Nursing, as well as the Department of Emergency Medicine at Prisma and their residents are all also a part of coming together for Disaster Day. I cannot neglect to mention Prisma Health Ambulance Service, who not only has been so wonderful to us during the EMT course, but also participates in Disaster Day, primarily in demonstrating for students the triage and transport experience and providing emergency medical care to the simulation patients.
Kendall Givens-Little:
So Jenn, you mentioned the Floral Foundation and the awesome work that they're doing here with our EMT program and Disaster Day. But Dr. Mannion, I'm curious, are there any other opportunities for other organizations who may want to assist or help sponsor something dealing with Disaster Day?
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
Absolutely. If you are interested or passionate about helping us to keep this going from a philanthropy standpoint, we would absolutely be interested.
Jenn Maness:
Yeah, absolutely. There are always opportunities to support our medical students, and especially something I think that's unique, as we talked about the EMT program, you are broadening the reach of emergency medical care in our community. You're bringing organizations together. So we do have philanthropy opportunities. If you are a foundation like the Floor Foundation, local business, individuals who are passionate about that, I would love for you to reach out to either myself, Jenn.Maness, M-A-N-E-S-S, @PrismaHealth.org, or to my friend Peter Mathias at School of Medicine Greenville. And we'd love to talk to you and invite you to come see the disaster drill this year in person.
Kendall Givens-Little:
Most definitely. Yeah, it's an awesome experience. Again, I've witnessed two of them, and when I say come prepared and wear your earplugs, come prepared. And when I say screaming, there's so many different scenarios that take place through those drills, it's amazing to see. And so yeah, we invite you guys to come take part and to help us out here, because ultimately, at the end of the day, what we're doing is not for the School of Medicine Greenville, it's to serve the greater good of the upstate and the local community. So we really appreciate everything that you're doing here at the university, with Prisma. We appreciate your service.
Jenn Maness:
Thank you.
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
Oh, thank you.
Kendall Givens-Little:
And it's crazy because we were having an offline earlier and she was telling us about some competitive weight lifting.
Jenn Maness:
Indeed.
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
Oh, gosh.
Jenn Maness:
It has come back to bite me.
Kendall Givens-Little:
I was just curious. Tell us a little bit about that. How did you get into that? And does that help you as an EMT as far as being able to...?
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
It does. Yeah. So this ties back into what I tell med students when I... Because I have them for the first five weeks of medical school. And one of the important things to relay is you need to stay well-rounded as a medical student. It is very hard to do because med school's hard. It's a lot of work and making time for yourself, whether that be through exercise, art, music, whatever, is important to learn early on because it keeps you sane throughout the career. For me, that has been CrossFit. And I know I kind of drank the Kool-Aid. CrossFit and Olympic weightlifting is a passion of mine. For those that are not familiar with what that is, that is two lifts. It is just the snatch and the clean and jerk. We just do two lifts. And if you see me in person, I'm a relatively of small stature.
Kendall Givens-Little:
Small but mighty.
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
But mighty. So I'm relatively competitive for my weight class, which is cool. But it's important for all of us to carve out some time to stay active. And it helps get you through the tough grueling hours that can occur with medicine.
Kendall Givens-Little:
Awesome.
Jenn Maness:
How cool that we are teaching our students that from day one? What it looks like, I've heard some of our faculty say, you are your own first patient. And so you have it to take care of yourself like that. You have to fill your cup before you can help anybody else. And I think that's valuable to know from day one.
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
Imperative.
Kendall Givens-Little:
A beautiful thing about the School of Medicine Greenville is not only the EMT program, but the Lifestyle Medicine Track as well, where we're teaching preventative healthcare measures. And so we are truly living through the brand of transforming medicine, one doctor at a time. And Dr. Mannion, you're one of the physicians that are leading that cause.
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
Well, thank you.
Kendall Givens-Little:
No, thank you. Thank you. Is there anything that you would like to say before we wrap today?
Dr. Elizabeth Mannion:
No, I thoroughly enjoyed my time chatting with y'all. This was great. Disaster Day this year will be sometime mid-September. And again, that will be the capstone at the end of the EMT course. And if anybody's interested in reaching out to me, I'm happy to share my email. It's Elizabeth spelled with a Z, dot Mannion, M-A-N-N-I-O-N, @PrismaHealth.org. And look forward to meeting our new students for academic year 2023. We are ready and excited and reach out to me.
Kendall Givens-Little:
Most definitely.
Jenn Maness:
Awesome.
Kendall Givens-Little:
Well, again, Dr. Mannion, thank you to my awesome, phenomenal co-host, Jenn Maness. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Jenn Maness:
Thank you, it's Maness. Bless.
Kendall Givens-Little:
Oh, I'm sorry. Maness.
Jenn Maness:
That's okay.
Kendall Givens-Little:
It's M-A-N-E-S-S.
Jenn Maness:
Yes. E-S-S. Look at that. We got Mannion and Maness today.
Kendall Givens-Little:
I don't want to drop any other gems, but I'm going to drop one. If you're in the upstate and you're into improv and theater. My co-host is amazing.
Jenn Maness:
Aw, thank you. That is also what keeps me sane on the side. So I do improv comedy. And that is what you talk about, everybody, physician or not, needs something outside of work that sparks them and that is it for me.
Kendall Givens-Little:
Well, I thank both of you ladies for joining us, and this has truly been a pleasure and a treat. You all have been listening to Just What the Doctor Ordered, the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville's podcast, where we discuss relevant news that you can use right here in the upstate. Thank you all for listening, and join us again next month. Until then, stay tuned.