Skills day...

I was scared out of my mind for skills day! (which happened today)

I have always hated doing things in front of people that actually know how to do what I am doing. It makes me nervous having people watch me.

During this semester we have learned an assortment of skills that are done everyday in the hospital. Every skill has steps and certain focus assessments and teachings that must be done. That is a lot of things to remember for each skill.

The ones the lab teachers told us to focus on for skills day were: NG tube placement and maintenance, central line dressing change, blood glucose and insulin administration, IM and Sub Q injection, nasopharyngeal suction, getting a patient up for the first time, and sterile dressing change. The drugs we had to know were Demerol, Morphine, and Dilaudid (pain killers); Phenergan, Visteril, and Zofran (anti-nausea meds) Humulin R and Humulin N, Lantus (insulin) and Heparin (anti-coagulant).

Once I got there at 9 am I picked a card with a color and a number, those corresponded to the skill I was assigned to perform. I got 5 minutes to check the MD orders, 20 minutes to actually perform the skill, and 10 minutes to document what I did.

My skill was central line dressing change. Now what is a central line? Hopefully all of you know what an IV is, a Central line is an IV that is inserted into the right subclavian artery and into the ascending aorta. (inserted into an artery in the shoulder and into the heart). And for those who don't know that is a sterile technique. What is sterile technique you say? Well it's kind of hard to explain. There are certain gloves I have to wear, certain kits I have to use to change that dressing, everything must remain sterile as I do the skill or I have to start all over again. Sterile technique is what is used in the operation room, so if you watch the medical shows, that is what sterile technique is (if they do it correctly, I watched one day and they contaminated the field, naughty!) If you want google central line and see what it actually looks like.

I felt a little rushed but everything worked out in the end. My instructor said that I did very well.

P.S. there are like 20+ steps for a central line dressing change.



Now I have to wait...