Clinical Procedures

(my sweet friend Rachel and I after we drew each other's blood. She was a fantastic first patient!)

Hi y'all! I can't believe how long I went without writing a post. We were told that last semester was supposed to be the "beast" but I think they meant to say that for THIS semester. Since I'm preparing for midterm this weekend, I thought I'd talk about clinical procedures aka my FAVORITE class this semester. I have been posting pictures on Instagram almost every week so I thought I'd share a little bit more about it.


We have an hour of lecture first thing ever Monday morning to discuss the details of the procedure we're going to be learning that week, and then we go next door into the lab and we do it! We first see our professors do a demo and then practice on our own for the rest of lab. Every week we have to have our professors sign off on the checklist they give us so they can make sure we know how to do a procedure! Our midterm is on Monday and we will basically just draw a card from the raffle and perform whatever procedure we get on the spot. Here are the procedures we have learned so far:

• Injections
• Venipuncture
• Starting an IV
• Cerumen impaction, removal of a foreign body, epistaxis (nosebleeds) and nasal packing 
• Corneal abrasion
• Using an inhaler and peak flow meter
• Digital block and removal of an ingrown nail

*All of the arms and models are fake and what you see is not real blood!*

Starting an IV. Ignore the blood bath, we didn't attach anything after sticking the arm with a needle so the fake blood just gushed out ;)

Nasal packing for an anterior nose bleed

This is how far back our nose goes. Can you believe it!?

Practicing my venipuncture technique before doing it for real on Rachel!

It's been such a fun time in lab so far because it gives us hands on experience. Post midterm, we will learn how to drain an abscess, male and female catheter insertion, splinting and casting, airway management, intubation, NG tube placement, and lumbar punctures! I will continue to share weekly pictures on Instagram to keep you all updated. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by :)