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Today I did a scenario based training exercise that involved a few different skill sets. Land navigation, Comms, tracking and medical.
The scenario: You are a SAR team tasked with finding two hikers who reported via cell phone that they were suffering serious medical conditions, ie vomiting and diarrhea. The signal was very weak and the female reported that they were going to try to walk out. The cell signal gave you a basic area to start in.
The exercise starts with the last known location(I should add GPS units not allowed) you must plot the last known location of the lost hikers on your topo then move there. They of course aren't there so you then have to use your tracking skills. You eventually find where they made camp and the male is unconscious when you arrive. You must do a trauma assessment and try to get as much info from the girlfriend as possible(she of course is emotionally in shock and it is difficult to get info from here) After the initial assessment and from the info given by the girlfriend i discovered that they were short on water and the boyfriend had been drinking from the creek. He had been suffering extreme diarrhea with stomach cramps for two days and had been refusing to take liquids on board for the last 12 hours. I diagnose either infection from Cryptosporidium or Giardia. I start a IV and have my counterpart head to higher ground to radio for evac..
synopsis:
I did well in every aspect EXCEPT starting the IV.. I was not aware at the beginning of the scenario that I would be required to start a IV.. (go figure, things happen you don't expect) I have trained with a certain brand of Catheter and always in clean classroom environments. This scenario my patient was laying on a woobie under a tarp in a canyon next to a creek. The Catheter was a 14ga of a style I have not used.. Bottom line.. I FAILED!!!! I could not get the catheter to advance on the needle, I got it into the vein and I got flash but I couldn't manipulate the catheter forward. I was pissed, this should be simple but the stress of unknown gear in a environment I had not done this task in before caused me to choke..
Conclusion:
I thought since I felt comfortable starting IV's in the classroom that I was good to go. HAHAHA that's funny, out there , in the field where it matters I was nervous. I had not trained on various styles of catheters and I felt nervous about maintaining a sterile environment. It was a great learning experience. Failure has a value those who cant face it don't understand. I wasn't perfect, in fact my patient may have died but the learning experience I got from it was AWESOME.....
The scenario: You are a SAR team tasked with finding two hikers who reported via cell phone that they were suffering serious medical conditions, ie vomiting and diarrhea. The signal was very weak and the female reported that they were going to try to walk out. The cell signal gave you a basic area to start in.
The exercise starts with the last known location(I should add GPS units not allowed) you must plot the last known location of the lost hikers on your topo then move there. They of course aren't there so you then have to use your tracking skills. You eventually find where they made camp and the male is unconscious when you arrive. You must do a trauma assessment and try to get as much info from the girlfriend as possible(she of course is emotionally in shock and it is difficult to get info from here) After the initial assessment and from the info given by the girlfriend i discovered that they were short on water and the boyfriend had been drinking from the creek. He had been suffering extreme diarrhea with stomach cramps for two days and had been refusing to take liquids on board for the last 12 hours. I diagnose either infection from Cryptosporidium or Giardia. I start a IV and have my counterpart head to higher ground to radio for evac..
synopsis:
I did well in every aspect EXCEPT starting the IV.. I was not aware at the beginning of the scenario that I would be required to start a IV.. (go figure, things happen you don't expect) I have trained with a certain brand of Catheter and always in clean classroom environments. This scenario my patient was laying on a woobie under a tarp in a canyon next to a creek. The Catheter was a 14ga of a style I have not used.. Bottom line.. I FAILED!!!! I could not get the catheter to advance on the needle, I got it into the vein and I got flash but I couldn't manipulate the catheter forward. I was pissed, this should be simple but the stress of unknown gear in a environment I had not done this task in before caused me to choke..
Conclusion:
I thought since I felt comfortable starting IV's in the classroom that I was good to go. HAHAHA that's funny, out there , in the field where it matters I was nervous. I had not trained on various styles of catheters and I felt nervous about maintaining a sterile environment. It was a great learning experience. Failure has a value those who cant face it don't understand. I wasn't perfect, in fact my patient may have died but the learning experience I got from it was AWESOME.....
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