Reproductive Health Simulation Analysis

The simulation for reproductive health was certainly a learning experience. While practicing with the patient, I was able to identify my own strengths and weaknesses. However, as the preceptor said, simulation is not simply about learning from practicing with the dummies. It is about learning from the other teams. This is certainly true. I learned about what I should do with a real patient as well as what I should not do by watching the other teams.
Because it is easy to be critical of oneself, I can point out weaknesses in my performance easily. I do feel that there are a few things that I did well, however. I think that during this simulation, I used more critical thinking than I ever have before in nursing school. When the baby started
turning blue, one of my partners didn’t know what to do. He called me over for help. Because I know cyanosis is due to lack of oxygen, I thought about what might be causing that. The first thing that came to mind is that the baby had some sort of blockage to his respiratory tract. So, I told my peer to use the bulb syringe to suction out whatever fluid was causing the cyanosis. Then when he was done using the bulb syringe we turned the baby on its side. The baby was already turning to the normal color by this point, so it probably wasn’t needed. It was still a good precaution. I realize that the baby most likely just needed stimulation, but suctioning helped the baby anyways. I also think I communicated with my team well. Beforehand we decided what each of our roles would be, so that we could be the most effective team possible. I also made sure to talk to my team members throughout, so we could document everything.
Despite all the positive things I did during simulation, I still had a few complications. I did not talk to the patient as effectively as I could have. When she asked why we were looking at her pupillary reflexes, I didn’t quite know how to answer her. I tried to educate her, but I think I ended up confusing her more. Our team also didn’t get through a lot of the assessment. I think I could have asked her more about her labor and recovery, since I was in charge of communication and documentation. This way she could have gone to the bathroom earlier on and had a more accurate fundal assessment. I also could have been better at actively listening when she said she had pain. My team didn’t give her ice for her perineum until she talked about her pain again. This could have been done earlier to prevent her from having more pain.
While I learned all of this from my own experience, I learned more from the other teams. The most important thing I learned was making sure to always check the orders before I do anything. When the orders changed, the new nurses didn’t know about it. This created some confusion. Also one of the students was talking about giving medication via the wrong route. This could have been bad for the patient if the medication was given in the wrong way. This also made me think of the patient’s six rights of medication administration. It’s something that seems so small, but it can make a big difference to the safety and health of the patient. The other groups were also really good at communicating with the patient. They made she knew what they were doing before doing anything. This made the patient feel better. I want to remember to make sure the patient understands everything before I do anything when I am a nurse. Through assessing and watching the other groups, this simulation helped me think more about my own actions as a nurse.