Nightclub exercise puts resuscitation teams under pressure in Edinburgh

The Scottish Ambulance Service staged a training exercise inside an Edinburgh city bar to teach responders how to respond to emergencies inside a busy nightclub.

SAS was joined by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and Edinburgh Street Assist for a multi-agency training exercise at The Three Sisters in Edinburgh’s Cowgate.

The training exercise, developed by members of Edinburgh’s Resuscitation Rapid Response Unit (3RU), recreated some of the challenges responders can face when treating critically unwell patients in a busy night-time venue. This included loud music and dark lighting.

Teams worked through simulated resuscitation scenarios while environmental pressures were progressively introduced, including darkness, loud music, theatrical haze, flashing lighting, limited working space, bystanders and additional responders arriving at different stages.

Steve Reiffer, an Edinburgh paramedic and one of the organisers, said: “Cardiac arrests do not wait for quiet, well-lit conditions. At a real incident we would try to control the environment by getting the music off and the lights up, but in this exercise we deliberately took that option away, so teams had to communicate and lead despite the conditions.

“It is a form of stress inoculation. Experiencing that pressure in training makes it less of a shock if a real incident does not give us the chance to control the scene.”

Robin Jeffrey, Area Service Manager for the Scottish Ambulance Service, said:

“Our services work alongside one another across Edinburgh’s night-time economy every weekend, and strong partnerships are vital when responding to medical emergencies. Training together in a real-world environment helps strengthen those relationships and ensures our teams are better prepared, more confident and more resilient when faced with high-pressure situations.

“Resuscitation is a true team effort, and the strongest teams are built through training before an incident occurs. This opportunity allowed our staff to practise alongside colleagues from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Street Assist Edinburgh and The Three Sisters, building the trust and understanding that can make a real difference when it matters most. My thanks to Steve Reiffer and everyone involved in making this valuable training possible.”