Today we had the opportunity to practice some skills in BCU’s simulation labs. First, we got a tour of their simulation ambulance that they use for their paremedic students. Both the inside and outside look just like the ambulances they have in the UK as they tried their best to make it as realistic as possible. It is fully stocked with everything that they would find in a real ambulance and in the same location. I don’t know how paramedic school works in the US, but I found this to be really interesiting and helpful for the students to be able to feel prepared and confident when doing their clinicals. They also have a room that is set up as a house, to train them how to enter scenes, practice transporting patients to and from the ambulance, and going back and forth between the scene and the ambulance to grab supplies when needed. After this, we started our first set of simulations.
In the first room, we were able to learn about the basics of wound care. First, we started by learning how to remove staples from a patient. Staples are used in places where you do not have much muscle, such as the head, chest, and face. To remove them you use a pair of special scissors to bend them and gently pull them out of the patients skin. After this, we learned how to assess larger wounds by using a probe to measure how deep it is, and a steril measuring tape to see how long this is. This is very important because you need to continuously reassess those values to see if it is really healing or not. Then we got to practice wound dressing and learn the process of steril gloving and bandaging wounds. One thing I found really interesting was when we talked about maggot therapy. When patients have large wounds that are struggling to heal, they will put maggots inside of a gauze bag into the wound before dressing, and leave them there for a few days. As they mature, they release enzymes that help with debreidment of the things we do not want in the wound, and also promote healing. I found this a little gross, because the idea of having bugs in my own wound makes me uncomfortable, but it is definetly benificial in some instances. Although all of these skills are most important for wound care nurses, we will all still encounter patients that need this care so it is a good skill to learn.
Next, we got to learn about catheterization. This is a skill that is extremely common in the hospital, but also very invasive and has a high risk of infection, so it is important to understand the steps and how to maintain sterility. We then got to practice this skill and trying to keep the steril field, which I think was harder than I expected. We also got to learn about NG tube insertion. For this skill, it is extrememly important you do it right because otherwise the tube could go into the lungs and then when you go to feed the patient, if it enters the lungs that is extrememly dangerous. It war really fun to learn the new skills and test them out, and this will definetly help us next year when we have to do them again, and eventually on real people.
After classes for the day, we had a ghost tour to finish our evening. First, we grabbed dinner and were able to walk around the mall for an hour. I am definetly excited to go back when I have time to do some shopping! Then, we met up with Peter, our tour guide. We were led to many places around the city and learned about the history of all of them. Birmingham had a lot of murders or buildings build on top of cemeterys and other burrial grounds, so many of the bulidings are believed to be haunted. It is definetly creepy to think about, but also interesting how much history is all around this city! I’m still not sure if I 100% believe in ghosts, but the tour guide was very convincing and a very good story teller. He was very knowledgeable about everything around the city and made it interesting to learn about.
