Medical Flight Training in India Highlights BYU FNP Excellence
Did you know that until last year, there was no Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) program for civilians in India? After making a trip to India to assess health risks for those on the Char Dham Yatra pilgrimage, Dr. Craig Nuttall (MS '11) was invited to help create the first medical flight training in the country. The training prepared nurses from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to provide care during the religious pilgrimage in 2024. Their preparation saved hundreds of lives when mudslides occurred while the pilgrimage was underway.
The training occurred during BYU College of Nursing's Global and Population Health Nursing Clinical Practicum in India. Under the direction of Kiley Bearden (MS '25), then an FNP student, several simulations were created to help prepare the first civilian medical flight program in India. These trainings included scenarios that the nurses might encounter before and during flights, such as chest pain, head injury, or altitude sickness.
During the practices, BYU undergraduate nursing students played the role of patients, and they were told to make it as realistic as possible—one student even acted combative.
"A lot of these nurses work in the ER or ICU [where] they have so many people coming to help [if something big is happening]," said Kiley. "We tried to really emphasize the point that [during a helicopter rescue] they're in a tiny space with just the two of them, so they need to plan ahead and know exactly what they're going to do to handle these critical situations in that space.
Training nurses was a new experience for Kiley. "I've never really been on the other side of training," she said. "I've done lots of simulations in school and at work, and it was eye-opening for me to see how much work goes into creating these scenarios and having to anticipate what the nurses might want to do and have all the information prepared," she remarked. "I was very impressed with the nurses' insightful questions; I could see the effort they had been putting into this, and I think they're really prepared."
After each training, Kiley held a debriefing to discuss key points, answer any questions the nurses had, and identify areas for improvement following the training. To gauge the success of the program, Dr. Nuttall and Kiley conducted a survey. The results were overwhelmingly positive: One hundred percent of the nurses rated the training as either effective or very effective. Eighty percent said that it significantly improved their understanding of their medical flight protocols; the overall value of the training was rated an average of 8.8 out of 10 by participants. Among the various components of the training, the live actors and debriefing were deemed the most valuable.
The newly trained HEMS officially opened on October 29, 2024, and the success of the training is already leading to new opportunities. Kiley presented this project at BYU's Three Minute Thesis competition in March and won first place for College of Nursing. She then went on to compete at the university level. In September 2025, Dr. Nuttall returns to India to work on further training. He aims to establish AIIMS Rishikesh as the national training center for other programs.
Art of Nursing Scholarship
This year, the BYU College of Nursing created the Art of Nursing Scholarship. This scholarship contest invites students to showcase their artistic talents while reflecting on the school’s mission: “To learn the Healer’s art and go forth to serve.” Winning entries are proudly displayed in the halls of the fourth and fifth floors of the Spencer W. Kimball building, offering an inspiring and uplifting glimpse into the students’ creative interpretations of the nursing experience. Through this competition, nursing students use art to explore the profound dimensions of emotional, physical, and spiritual healing. The inaugural theme, “Bringing Light to Healing,” has inspired a variety of submissions, including paintings, photography, drawings, poetry, stained glass, and dance videos.
Anna Raab, Flecks of Gold 🡪
BYU Team Wins First Place at Big 12 Healthcare Case Competition
Nursing student Emily Keeler was on the BYU team that won first place at the 2025 Big 12 Healthcare Case Competition hosted by BYU Healthcare Leadership. Emily and three students from the BYU Marriott School of Business formed a team called Health in Motion. They presented a plan to establish lung cancer screenings in Ohio's rural communities through a mobile health clinic. "We found an idea that we were really passionate about and that we felt could genuinely bless the lives of children of God," Emily said. "We prayed before every time we competed and said, 'Heavenly Father, we know this could bless people's lives; give us the strength to share this idea so it can bless people.' I felt like that's what carried me through." The team's faith and dedication paid off in a big way: Health in Motion won first place and was awarded $10,000.