New simulator at Learn & Earn Center lets nurses practice needle skills
“I’m not scared to do this,” asserted Macon Jorgensen, clinical solutions coordinator for Thrivera atHome and an LPN student at Western Home Communities.
The fact that her first-ever blood draw was on a practice arm and not a human calmed her nerves.
The Learn & Earn Center recently received a donation of two intravenous IV arms that made this possible. It came about after a local hospital stopped providing the service of oncampus blood draws, and the clinical team jumped into action to make sure Western Home Communities nurses could take over the responsibility.
Training sessions were held at the Learn & Earn Center so they could refresh their skills.
“It’s something taught in nursing school for LPNs and RNs, but we wanted to make sure our nurses felt confident and were competent once they had to step in,” explained Director of Education Krista Dreyer, LPN.
At first, nurses injected needles into their trainers’ arms – which got to be a lot of practice punctures.
“We only had so many veins to go around, so by the third session our arms were pretty shot,” Krista said. “We had an old practice arm but it didn’t work well without the lifelike pliability of new models.
Chief Clinical Officer Wendy Ager, RN, BSN, mentioned to Jerry Harris, President of Cedar Falls Operations, that practice arms would be beneficial. Jerry spread the word through the foundation, and a donor who had a career in healthcare stepped forward – funding not just one practice arm, but two.
“I had to start to learn IVs myself, so I knew why it was needed and was happy to be able to provide this,” said the donor, who wants to remain anonymous. Now nurses at Western Home Communities can perform any lab draws needed by residents in assisted living and nursing care. That includes regular blood checks for people taking anticoagulant medications, annual lab tests, or diagnostic work required to see what may be causing an illness.
The arms will get regular use in the LPN curriculum at Western Home Communities. “This is such a blessing,” says Ager. “People have been so supportive of our training programs. It’s amazing and wonderful to have these tools.” The arms can be used for training on blood collection, IVs, infusions and injections. They feature a network of simulated veins and include a simulated blood product. There’s even a realistic pop as a needle enters the “vein.”
“Oh my gosh, I did it!” exclaimed Katie Boos, another LPN student, as she performed perfectly on the first try. “How fun!”
Krista reminded Katie and Macon that nurses still have a lot of procedural steps to remember before and after a blood draw or IV, which is often the harder part of the task. But they proved that practice makes perfect. “Beautiful work! You two were so good,” Krista enthused. “I’m so proud of you both. You made my day.” And gave her arm a break, too.
