Simulation Laboratory Experience

On Friday July 15, my group of medical student visited the simulation laboratory. After climbing a couple sets of stairs we were broken off into three different groups for three different sets of activities. The first for me a combination of a couple of simulations. The first one was a simulation designed to help surgeons further develop their skills. We used small clamps to pick up and move rings to different poles. This seems quite simple but we had to do it looking at a monitor that projected what we would see and that new perspective made it much more difficult than anticipated. Next and finally for the first rotation was the colonoscopy. During the colonoscopy simulation, we were given a summary of the problem the patient was experiencing. Next, we were given a joystick that controlled the direction of the cord and while one person was directing, another was feeding the tube in at a slow pace. This
proved to be difficult at first, but much easier after a few minutes. After what seemed like a long time, we were able to check the progress we had made since the beginning. Turns out that it was not that much. I learned that this activity takes a lot of focus and time to minimize any source of error and any pain to the patient. I was very skeptical going into the colonoscopy, but I found it very entertaining as well as interesting. I understand that it was not the real procedure but I knew nothing about any of these machines until leaving that day so I can say that I learned a lot. A series of brief activities awaited in the second room including inspecting ears, Harvey the “dummy” and drawing blood.
Inspecting ears reminding me of visiting the doctor because of the tool used to the see inside the ear. There were many fake ears that were either healthy or not and we were tasked with finding an issue if there was one. Next came Harvey the dummy. Harvey is a very expensive fake man that can breathe and is used to practice medical procedures on. We put on stethoscopes that were connected to a radio signal device that allowed all of the other students and I to listen in together on the regular and irregular heartbeats of Harvey. I learned how to navigate and find where a problem could be. After Harvey, we drew blood from a fake arm using skills demonstrated. We learned how to follow along the vein and learned which direction to slide in the lancet hollow needle. This was very interesting and may cause me to pay more attention to the technique of anyone drawing my blood from now on so I can be sure that they will hit the vein the first
time. The last activity was in a room that seemed like it was for more medical procedures. There was a fake baby on a table and fancier version of harvey in the patient’s chair. During this time, we went over CPR and many other things such as what to do when the lungs are filling up with liquid. This was probably my favorite of all the activities because I’ve learned that I want to be able to help people on the spot and know just what to do and when to do it rather than be a bystander unable to help. I took away a lot of knowledge that day and the only thing I didn’t like was the shortage of time.