NE North Dakota News

Faculty and students from the University of North Dakota's medical and aerospace colleges have collaborated to train aviation majors on accident survival. The initiative addresses the reality that many airplane accident survivors suffer injuries needing immediate medical attention.

Drs. Jon Solberg and Justin Reisenauer from the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences, who are pilots themselves, spearheaded the program. They approached the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences to offer more emergency medical training to aviation students. In collaboration with Nick Wilson, associate professor in UND's Department of Aviation, they organized a first-aid workshop for student pilots.

“Dr. Solberg said he was interested in doing this air incident first aid event,” explained Wilson, who is also a faculty advisor for the Wilderness Pilots Association. “With the great skills both Dr. Solberg and Dr. Reisenauer brought to the table, we were able to provide students with some basic skills for survival post-accident, and help them handle physical trauma in the short term.”

The one-day seminar included practical training on applying splints, tourniquets, and managing chest wounds and hemorrhages. Wilson noted the importance of these skills for aviation students and praised the seminar's practicality. Reisenauer, an emergency medicine physician and aviation medical examiner, highlighted the common injuries faced by accident survivors and emphasized the goal of the workshop: equipping students with critical skills not typically included in aviation training.

An emergency medicine approach was applied using an aviation-style A-B-C checklist: airway, breathing, and circulation. Reisenauer humorously noted, “The trauma physician who invented the advanced trauma life support algorithm for trauma care was, not surprisingly, also a pilot!”

The interprofessionalism of the course, pairing aviation students with medical students, was emphasized by Solberg. He illustrated the realism of the training by simulating smoke from an aircraft fire.

In addition to the faculty, fourth-year medical student Bo Lauckner participated in teaching. Lauckner emphasized the dual focus of emergency medicine: “planning for the worst, hoping for the best,” while offering advice on low-cost medical resources.

The aviation students, including Sadie Blace and Ishir Agarwal, expressed appreciation and remarked on the life-changing nature of the experience. Agarwal commented, “This experience could be the difference between life and death when confronted with an airplane accident.”

The partnership between UND's aerospace and medical colleges aligns with the recent wilderness medicine interests of the SMHS Wilderness Medicine Interest Group. Solberg described recent training activities, including altitude hypoxia responses, as highly beneficial for both medical and aviation students.

This initiative occurs alongside the North Dakota Legislative Assembly's consideration of a bill to establish the North Dakota Center for Aerospace Medicine at the Odegard school. The Center aims to facilitate such collaborations and provide mental health and certification support to UND students. Elizabeth Bjerke, associate dean in the School of Aerospace Sciences, is an advocate for the bill.