It was a cool breezy Monday morning, but not just any Monday, this was Halloween. Waking during the haunting hour of 0300 and never finding my way back to sleep; should have been my first clue that 10/31/16, was going to be a day full of tricks rather than treats. I had completed my SimLab packet, researched my patients diagnoses, and prepared myself for what I thought would be good learning simulations for a patient with CHF, on Digoxin. I had the best of intentions, however my endeavours' would prove to be useless. Now I was at the mercy of the great Oz, behind the two way mirror, the one who is always watching. Once broken up into teams a plan of attack was drawn up only to be flung to the wind as soon as we arrived to 209.
First thing we did after arriving to room 209 was transfer the patient back into bed and discontinuing his feast of salty potato chips, that were forbidden on his diet. Next I attempted to draw up blood and send it to the lab for a BMP and BNP. After that I had quite the adventure as I attempted to contact the HCP to get wound-care orders, an x-ray order, and an order for respiratory therapy. After that a wound specimen was retrieved and sent to the lab and wound-care was completed.
In the simulation lab, I learned that before calling anyone for anything you must be ready to answer every question possible. That you can not assume just because a HCP is assigned to a patient that you will ever get to speak to them and that their nurse will not be working and you will have to speak to another HCP nurse and assume they know what they are talking about. You also must assume everyone else on staff at the hospital is completely incompetent and can not be trusted to do there job. So you should find a new job because the hospital is sure the be shut down in the near future.
During my next simulation experience I will not prepare as much or create a plan. I will not expect to get to actually do anything cool related to my patients diagnoses. And I will gather more data and check labels and review specimen acquisition protocol.
As we watched our peers, I learned these three things: Communication is key, working around others in close approximation in a closet is not easy, Lasix is is pushed over 2 minutes.
Three things I learned in the classroom that I put into practice during the simulation experience were assessment skills, the pathology of CHF, and cultural awareness in regards to Jehovah's Witnesses.
Great observations!!! Your post was a pleasure to read. Very creative.
ReplyDeleteMs.P.