i've got mad skills!

This was our first week of "skills" labs. We all thought it was going to be slightly less labor-intensive, but we were so very wrong. We have skills lab every morning for three hours monday thru thursday, but before every lab (actually it has to be taken by 5 o'clock the day before), we have to pass a pre-test about the material we would be covering. Sounds easy enough, but in actuality, the quizes are computerized and extremely specific. Imagine fifty over-achievers getting 75s on multiple quizzes- some even failing! Needless to say everyone was constantly complaining about the workload (preparation for the quizzes usually took about three or four hours) and about the specificity of the quizzes. As the week went on, though, i think we had a better understanding of how to prepare for the pretests (i actually got A's on the last two!). The end of the week still left us completely exhausted (i love weekends!).

The actual time we spent in the skills lab, though, was really fun. We learned more about handwashing and sterile technique (in the sterile world, clean is dirty!), and then on wednesday, we learned how to put in catheters (on dummies, not our lab partners). The whole process is made a little more difficult because you have to maintain surgical sterility. I'm really good at donning sterile gloves, though, and i can spot a break in sterility from a mile away. Friday, we had open lab, where we could come in and practice catheterization (it's going to be one of our check-off skills tests). I went through the whole process twice, and i'm pretty sure i've got it down. Setting up the sterile field is a little tricky, though. You can either put down the sterile drape (rectangular sized sheet put between the legs in front of the perineal area) without sterile gloves, by only touching the corners within 1 inch from the edges (and be able to brush against the legs- but not being able to reach across the sheet), or you could don sterile gloves and touch any part of the sterile sheet, but you have to be extra careful not to touch the bedsheets, the patient, or any other non-sterile object. like i said, it's tricky.

I really like my skills teacher, because she really forces us to think things through instead of just telling us the "right" way to do something. Some people in my group don't like that, but it's kind of fun to have to "think critically" about a specific situation. Really, it's just good practice, because in reality, when we come across new situations, there will never be an omnitient person sitting on our shoulder telling us the "correct" way to do something. Monday, we worked on body mechanics (being able to safely move a patient, or helping them move/walk). We had to be able to move an immobile patient from the bed to a chair and then back again. My partner was a 5 foot petite asian woman, (maybe a hundred pounds soaking wet) but when she went limp, it was really tough to move her. I eventually got it down (without letting her go down), but then we added in the extra challenges of IV and catheter tubes. You could really see the wheels turning when you watched someone try to figure out which side to put the chair on so you don't smoosh the tubes (yes, that is the technical term, thank you). Next week, we get to practice giving injections and taking blood pressure readings. (adam said he would only volunteer for one of those - but he wouldn't let me pick which one) And yes, one of these days i will actually get some pictures up here. i promise...