April Wilson, Photographer

I have been having a fun time as Liberty Nursing Student Association's photographer. Yesterday, I shadowed the juniors while they had Simulation Lab. This lab takes the place of one of their regular scheduled hospital clinicals.

I can remember how nerve-wracking it was to be in their shoes, not knowing what was going to happen to Sim Man. Everything that happens is as if you were really in the hospital taking care of a patient. First, you receive report from the night nurse. She "just so happens" to not know some things, forget to tell you things, etc. Questions are allowed, but sooner or later, the night nurse "goes home", and you're left feeling quite alone. Each student gets a role; there's an RN, a CNA, a Family Member, and a Recorder (someone who records the time the RN does anything).

Here's Sim Man. He talks. He Coughs. He vomits (not really, but he makes the noise of vomiting)! His chest rises and falls with his breathing and you can hear his belly, heart, and lung sounds. He can have clear lung sounds, or he can have rubs or crackles or other adventitious sounds. His heart can have murmurs. His belly can be hypo- or hyper-active. His pulses can be strong, weak, irregular, or absent all together. His vitals are on the monitor, and they can all go up, or down. He'll even respond to all of your questions.

It was so fun watching and remembering when I was in Sim Lab. It was all the same. The moment you pull back the curtain and enter the room, you're nervous and just sort of look at Sim Man, not knowing what to do.

Eventually you step up, and start to assess. And just like when I was in Sim Lab, the first thing Sim Man complains about is pain and nausea. And before you can think of what to do next, he throws up.... a lot.


And soon, Sim Man becomes unresponsive. His vitals start changing; heart rate increases, blood pressure goes down, oxygen saturation goes down, what's going on with Sim Man!!!! You literally have no idea what to do. You just... stand there and look at eachother, look at Sim Man, look at eachother again. Ummmm....

Let's call the doctor! (Behind that double sided mirror is the teacher who is making Sim Man do everything) This part of the clinical is to teach that when you call the doctor, you need to follow certain steps, like give the situation, background of the patient, review the given orders, etc.

You can see on the monitor here his heart rate is 79 (green), oxygen is 91 (yellow), respirations are 12 (white).... soon, the girls will see that he needs supplemental oxygen that is hanging on the wall. Right now, they are listening to a strange lung sound.

Here's the worst part; everything is being recorded. After lab, they will all watch it together and talk about what they did well, what they need to work on, and what they completely forgot to do! When my group was being recorded last year, I was the CNA. I was on my way to tell the RN that the patient had a pressure ulcer starting on his bottom, and as I walked by the camera, I sniffed and rubbed my nose; and I was super close up to the camera. It was sweet.

Today, LNSA tailgated! We had fun grilling hotdogs and giving out food to LU students and their parents. It's parent's weekend!

Students were dressing up for Halloween, and when this guy ran up the street, we had to call him over. I asked if he was on a solid foods diet before we gave him anything to eat. I'm a critical thinker like that.
Batman also stopped by for some nourishment. I made him do a Pepsi Challenge, like they used to do on TV. I told him that if he could figure out which one was Pepsi and which was Coke, he could have a free hotdog. This was a ploy, because the hotdogs were already free.