A Southampton Solent University student is set to graduate with two jobs already secured, one with the Ambulance Service and one delivering trauma simulation training for the British military, according to a June 13 report.
Katie Upton, a final-year BA (Hons) Prosthetics and Special Effects Design student, has spent the past year building a career in moulage—the practice of creating realistic simulated wounds and injuries for medical training. While this technique is widely used in professional healthcare education, Upton said she discovered that many UK ambulance services were conducting it informally.
"I contacted around 50 different companies for work experience," Upton said. "It's a very niche area, so I didn't think many would respond. But I was very lucky to hear back from South East Coast Ambulance Service, London Ambulance Service, the Royal College of Surgeons, and the major trauma hospitals in London."
Upton said her choice to study at Solent was influenced by its emphasis on practice-led learning and a familiar city campus environment. A second-year module on professional application led her to focus on realism within her craft. During the summer between her second and third year, she gained work experience teaching paramedics and doctors about best practices in moulage during training days.
Her efforts led ambulance services to request her return as a paid professional. The opportunity with the military arose after initial security concerns were overcome; several months later, she received an offer for a paid role working on large-scale combat trauma simulations at bases across the UK and abroad.
"We create fake limbs. If someone's whole arm is supposed to be cut off, we make their whole arm," Upton explained. "We make the end of it look like it's been torn apart. Sometimes we're out on the field for four or five hours." She added that some actors involved are amputees and that these simulations help train personnel in identifying when medical intervention is needed.
Upton's personal connection to both fields comes from her mother’s role as director of midwifery and deputy chief nurse for the NHS, while her father served in the army from age sixteen to twenty-seven.
