Eep!
So.
Week 1, death by paperwork.
Week 2, basics, blanket folding, patient positioning.
Week 3, death by respiratory system.
Week 4, death by cardiovascular system.
Weeks 3 and 4 - more the former - have started with a brain-melting session on anatomy and physiology. Basically, how the bits are put together and how they normally work. After that, the weeks have been learning about how they go wrong, some of the stuff we do to put them back together (or at least slow down the falling apart until we can get them to someone else who can put them back together), and varying amounts of more practical stuff.
Last week gave us some new toys to play with. ECGs, which look like they could be really quite interesting. We've been taught about a few of the simpler traces (VF, VT (with and without pulse - the trace is the same, you just need to check if there's a pulse anywhere), asystole (beeeeeeeeee...), and what a normal sinus rhythm looks like. Defibrilators, so we can shock people with certain dodgy rhythms - the little shock boxes we get have ECG screens on them, so we can see what's going on and override it if we think there should be a shock.
This week is more on history taking, primary and secondary surveys, and the like. We've had a bit of a play with stethoscopes - more of that later - and some little roleplays trying to figure out what's up with someone (and remember what we should do) from questioning them. Tomorrow I think we have BP taking - using the flashy defib, and manually - and the skeletal system to look at later in the week. They're shifting the brain melting to Friday this week.
Next week, first assessment (eeeeep!), a visit to an ambulance station (to get the familiarisation stuff out the way, and may practice a little extraction from vehicles), and... Oh, a day off!
Week 1, death by paperwork.
Week 2, basics, blanket folding, patient positioning.
Week 3, death by respiratory system.
Week 4, death by cardiovascular system.
Weeks 3 and 4 - more the former - have started with a brain-melting session on anatomy and physiology. Basically, how the bits are put together and how they normally work. After that, the weeks have been learning about how they go wrong, some of the stuff we do to put them back together (or at least slow down the falling apart until we can get them to someone else who can put them back together), and varying amounts of more practical stuff.
Last week gave us some new toys to play with. ECGs, which look like they could be really quite interesting. We've been taught about a few of the simpler traces (VF, VT (with and without pulse - the trace is the same, you just need to check if there's a pulse anywhere), asystole (beeeeeeeeee...), and what a normal sinus rhythm looks like. Defibrilators, so we can shock people with certain dodgy rhythms - the little shock boxes we get have ECG screens on them, so we can see what's going on and override it if we think there should be a shock.
This week is more on history taking, primary and secondary surveys, and the like. We've had a bit of a play with stethoscopes - more of that later - and some little roleplays trying to figure out what's up with someone (and remember what we should do) from questioning them. Tomorrow I think we have BP taking - using the flashy defib, and manually - and the skeletal system to look at later in the week. They're shifting the brain melting to Friday this week.
Next week, first assessment (eeeeep!), a visit to an ambulance station (to get the familiarisation stuff out the way, and may practice a little extraction from vehicles), and... Oh, a day off!