During the spring semester, students of paramedicine at MED MUNI performed not only their student roles, but also took part in the roles of role-players, for example, in exercises simulating an active shooter or an intervention in public spaces, where they helped with realistic masking of injuries and assisted in the plausibility of scenarios. They have also played the roles of members of exit teams, especially in practical tactical exercises where they provided triage, treated the wounded and cooperated with the IZS forces.
During the summer semester of 2025, students of the Faculty of Medicine at Masaryk University actively participated in a number of tactical exercises and trainings of the Integrated Rescue System (IRS).
In February, the students took part in two distinctly different, but equally challenging training sessions. On the premises of the University Hospital Brno, a specialised methodical training simulating the reception of a patient with a suspected highly dangerous infection took place, corresponding to the type activity 16 A. The students were familiarised with the use of Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) protective equipment* and decontamination by a mobile unit of the Fire and Rescue Service (HZS). The result is, among other things, an instructional video dedicated to the correct use of personal protective equipment (PPE).
A completely different character was the tactical exercise of a type of activity focused on an active shooter, the so-called AMOK, which took place in Pachlavice and which simulated an attack in a music club. In cooperation with the Medical Rescue Service of the Zlín Region (ZZS ZK) and the intervention unit of the Police of the Czech Republic of the South Moravian Region (PČR JmK), students provided realistic masking of injuries and acted as mannequins, which significantly contributed to the credibility of the whole intervention.
In March, the students participated in a seminar on the new triage identification cards, designed for triage in case of mass disabilities. Subsequently, they took part as mannequins in a simulated intervention of the South Moravian Region Health Rescue Service (ZZS JmK) in the field, which served as a test platform for the new systems.
In April, the students were involved in two more extremely exciting scenarios. In Kroměříž, they acted as figures in an intervention against an active shooter at the employment office. The intervention was carried out in cooperation with the ZZS ZK and the intervention unit of the PČR JmK, and simulated a situation with multiple wounded and detained hostages.
A few days later, the students participated in a tactical exercise on the campus of the Faculty of Horticulture in Lednice, where the aim was to track down the attacker, who after the act merged with the crowd of students. Here, too, the students acted as mannequins and enabled the JmK Emergency Medical Services and the JmK Police to practice crisis intervention in a university environment.
In May, the second-year students played the role of the first emergency crews of the JmK Health Service during training in the tactical area of the Police of the Czech Republic. They cooperated with the newly created function of the police commander within the JmK Police and prepared their own pre-hospital care station, where they performed triage and securing of the wounded. The whole intervention was supported by the ZZS JmK, which provided the students with real equipment, and this contributed significantly to the authenticity of the whole training.
"Emergency situations are extraordinary not only because they require the cooperation of several components of the rescue system, but also because there is often no one right solution for them. This aspect of unpredictability presents a challenge in our standard training. The skills and experience that our students need to navigate such situations are very difficult to integrate into regular teaching. That is why I appreciate all the cooperation with the IRS, which we have also managed to strengthen systematically in recent years. The feedback on the performance of our students so far has been very positive and we are looking forward to the next exercises that await us in the coming academic year," says Mgr. Michal Pospíšil, coordinator of the Medical Rescue Medicine study programme at Masaryk University Faculty of Medicine.
Thanks to this series of exercises and trainings, students gained not only practical experience and confidence in dealing with crisis situations, but also a deeper understanding of the functioning of the integrated rescue system. Their involvement shows that the study of paramedic medicine at MED MUNI is not only of high professional quality, but also extremely connected with practice.
* Biosafety level (BSL), or pathogen/protection level, is the set of biosecurity measures that are required to isolate dangerous biological agents in a closed laboratory facility. Source of explanation: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health. Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories. 6th ed. U.S. Government Printing Office; 2020.
Members of the Scientific Board of the Masaryk University Faculty of Medicine met for their final session of the year at the Simulation Centre. The key agenda items included the discussion of three habilitation procedures and a proposal to award an honorary doctorate to the dean of a prestigious American medical school.
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