Skills Lab?

[allthingsbright]

Just wondering what this is exactly-I'm assuming I'll learn my skills here (duh) but my lab had loads of computers too? Will I be taking some practice tests, ya think? I have 3 eight hour sessions in there before starting clinicals, then I'm supposed to schedule additional time there during the semester. Whats your skills lab like? TIA!!

[wonderbee, BSN, RN]

It's set up sort of like a hospital floor complete with artificial patients and all the tools of our profession. Ours doesn't have computers. I'll never forget the first skills lab when we learned how to make an occupied bed and give a bed bath. There were body parts of the dummies all over the place cuz when we made the bed, the leg of the dummy fell off or the head. It had us in stitches.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Do you do the skills lab throughout the whole semester, or is it for just the first few weeks? Is the skills lab just for first semester students, or do you have one in second semester as well?

[jjbaby]

Our skills labs ran through the entire first year and then about half way through the second year. We learned, practiced and did skills check-offs during these times. we learned:

Bed-bath

head to toe assessments

Foley cath

Suctioning

tach care

sterile dressings

IV starts

B/P

medication administration-had a med cart to practice drawing up meds

insulin administration

IM/SQ/Intrdermal injections

NG-Tubes

chest tubes

bed-making occupied and unoccupied

enema administration (video only...lol)

and probably others too.....

Our last skills lab was a competency skills check-off where you draw a skill from a hat and have to perform it correctly (1 sterile procedure and one medication administration) This was done just before second year half-way point.

You got 3 chances to pass both skills.

I drew an insulin administration and a sterile wet-to-dry dressing change.

The skills lab is lots of fun and a good chance to get the skills down for clinicals. It was one of my favorite parts of school.

I also spent lots of time in the skills lab practicing with the skills instructor this helps a lot to get the skills down before competency testing.

Good Luck

JJ (New RN)

[Vsummer1]

Our lab has a separate room with the computers in it. They are used to take our HESI tests. In addition, they have CD programs we do for each topic and these are listed in the syllabus. I have gone in to use them a few times, but they do not provide us with a certain time to do it, nor do we have to prove we did it. It is up to us to do these things, and I don't know too many people who take the time to do it. Last time I went in (I am in my last semester) the programs were nowhere to be found, so I wasted my time.

Good luck!