Assessing Each Other??!??

MedChica · Jul 30, 2010

Hey.

New to nursing but not new to the medical field. Most within the healthcare field practice on each other when it comes to 'sticks' and such...

When I was an xray/ct tech we stuck our instructors and classmates.

When I was a combat medic we stuck each other.

When I was going through training for Army (forget what it's called) with a bunch of non-medics, we stuck and started IV's in each other.

How else will you get better?

A mannequin isn't a human being.

But that's just my opinion.

'Unprofessional' and 'ghetto'?

Oh yeah...AND we (rad techs) also positioned each other to demonstrate and make sense of different views. We'd go through the motions of the exam, doing everything but shooting the film.

Sure you can use a dummy but it's just a sub for the real thing.

If you can find a human...use them.

Same with CPR... The more 'actual' pts you perform on, the better you are.

sparklie.lady · Jul 30, 2010

We use the mannequins and practiced with each other as well. I found both to be useful--the mannequins were able to produce "sick" effects that my health classmates could not. Assessing my classmates was valuable to establish a baseline of normal--which you won't see in the hospital, since people are generally sick while they are there :)

We didn't get naked, (socks/ shoes came off, shirts were removed (kept bras on), and pants rolled down a little when necessary), had same-sex partners, and assessed behind closed curtains.

It's not "ghetto" or unprofessional. Nor is it awkward...unless you make it that way.

Oh, and we don't do any tubes/ needles on each other.

cobee · Jul 30, 2010

I don't see how assessing a classmate is "ghetto."

I haven't started my program but a friend who is a few semesters ahead of me in the same program told me that the most involved we get is giving each other bed baths wearing shorts and tank tops.

allnurses Guide · Jul 30, 2010

What a strange opinion. So it is okay to practice on people who are sick and already stressed, but not on one another?

Your first "assessments" will be done on one another so that hopefully you actually have a bit of skill before you get in front of a live patient. Yes, mannequins are used as well. We don't practice sticking one another with needles and we don't insert anything into one another's orifices.

anonymousstudent · Jul 30, 2010

If you don't run an assessment on a "real" person before you get into clinical you are going to look like a fool. Sick patients still know what's going on and they are going to know when it takes you 40 minutes and you have no idea what you're doing.

You need to learn landmarks on a real person. You need to learn auscultation on a real person.

As far as NG, I doubt that's necessary, it's not rocket science. But IV's would be super helpful on a person. My school does not allow IV/IM/SQ practice on other students and though I would rather not be poked, I would also rather not have my first experience on an actual patient, for both of our sakes.

I'm not trying to be harsh but you need to grow up a bit. Nursing involves bodies. If that's ghetto to you pursue another career. GL

DCoffill, ASN, RN · Jul 31, 2010

I agree to with you some what. I don't think it is appropriate to asses a fellow classmate in just a bra or something like that. Thier are many people who don't like the way they look undressed, and i see no need to make someone feel uncomfortable. Just because you prefer to be fully clothed, and fluster easily doest mean you need to "grow up". Your personal privacy prefrences will in no way effect your ability to be a nurse. Everything else though I think comes with the territory... assesment on a fully clothed person, needle/iv sticks ect. In my phlebotomy class we had to sign a wavier before we signed up stating we would stick and be stuck for the duration of the class. Practice does make perfect!

ParamedicFNPwantabe · Jul 31, 2010

Medicine is a business that requires listening, looking, and touching. By practicing on each other you develop confidence in your ability to do the patient assessments correct so you don't screw up when with a real patient. Another benefit is you will have more empathy to what your patients are feeling.

IV's need to be practiced on real people as no doll tube feels the same as a real vein. No need to intubate or drop ng tubes on each other that's what cadavers are for.

Here is another similar discussion. https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-student/nudity-483930.html

In my honest opinion it is selfish that we think some unsuspecting sick or injured person that is already having a bad day should be the first real human we touch.

choc0late · Jul 31, 2010

My assessment class was on each other. For NG tubes we had the option of using each other or manny's, which nobody did it on each other. We did the transdermal shots on each other though. That was the really only invasive thing. But we bed bathed each other, brushed teeth, transfered, restrained, checked vitals, and we're up close and personal. But it was great practise. When I went to clinical I was glad I used a real person to bath and such.

llg, PhD, RN · Jul 31, 2010

I agree that students should not be forced to undress in front of each other. Our relationships with our colleagues is NOT a nurse-patient relationship -- and therefore, a different set of boundaries is appropriate. However, I don't see a problem with some very basic assessments/interventions that don't require intimate contact, exposing private body parts, etc.

It wasn't necessary when I went to school 35 years ago for my generation -- and it's not necessary today when we have far more educational resources at our disposal.

allnurses Guide · Jul 31, 2010

Read the thread titled "nudity" in here, lots of descriptions of different things schools do.

My students have fun assessing each other, there tends to be lots of laughter as people fumble and then "get it". They wear sports bras and shorts, covered by pt gowns. I have had clinical instructors tell me how impressed they are with the assessment skills the students are coming to clinicals with.

Students do invasive procedures (caths, suctioning, baths) on mannikins. And we have a new and impressive sim lab, but hands on human experience can not truly be simulated (darn close though!).

Out of curiousity, just what makes this "ghetto", what do you mean by that?

wetzoo · Jul 31, 2010

Health Assessment involves non-invasive procedures- checking capillary refill by pushing on another person's nail beds, checking for calf tenderness and edema by palpating the lower extremities, listening for heart and lung sounds, checking pulses, etc.

Yes, you will have to practice this on another student (you will be doing the actual procedure on a live patient, right?). Technology can not substitute an actual live person with emotion and feeling.