CHICOPEE, Mass. - Dozens of nursing students at Elms College participated in a hands-on mass casualty drill scenario Monday, complete with computerized mannequins to evaluate patients.

"It's really about the student's being able to not be afraid to step into a mass casualty," said lab coordinator Terry Kinsley. "Not being afraid to put a black tag on a patient, not being afraid to triage a patient and understand the under current, the underpinning of safety at a scene."

Senior nursing student Chynna Pacheco took the role as team leader during the morning training and said the experience was intense. 

"So going in there I have to communicate with all of my other nurses and see what patients needed help the most," said Pacheco. "And we have to tag the patients based on there acuity. So walking in there was very overwhelming and nerve wracking because we've never been in a scenario like that."

Another challenge for the students was navigating the simulated scene safely.

"In the role of the leader, I was so eager in making sure each patient was ok that I actually got electrocuted," Pacheco said. "So I died off in that simulation and that just shows how important it is to make sure that your scene is safe and that you're safe so that you can take care of other patients."

Pacheco said in light of recent incidents including the mass shooting at Michigan State University last month, it's important for future nurses to have the skill set needed to operate in emergency situations.

"As nurses, we have to prepare for tragic accidents like that and you can't prepare reading a textbook," said Pacheco. "So everything has to be hands-on, so I think the practice was really helpful and they were really creative setting things up and making it as realistic as possible."

This simulation is one of more learnings to come for Pacheco and her fellow future nurses. The college plans to add more scenarios to their mass casualty simulations in the future in order to prepare students for any situation.