This past Friday, February 4, our Fundamentals in Biomedical Sciences Class was visited by two helpful nurses from the University of Mobile. They began by talking to us about benefits of attending a small college such as the the University of Mobile as well as discussing the UM's programs relating to the medical field.
We began our lab by using a Auscultation Dummy to listen to prerecorded lung and heart sounds. We listened to normal lung sounds as well as abnormal lung sounds. These abnormal lung sounds included Wheezing, Stridor, and Rales. It was quite fascinating to be able to hear the damaged lung and talk about the diseases related to these sounds. Then, I was able to listen to normal heart sounds. This was a Lub-Dub sound. I wasn't able to hear the abnormal sounds however it was still quite interesting.
After using the Auscultation Dummy, I was able to try inserting an IV catheter on a dummy arm! (I was quite excited for this part). The dummy's arm actually had "blood" flow (I say "blood" for we were using artificial blood). I began by using a tourniquet to limit blood flow into the limb. Next, I "cleaned" the skin. Then, I prepared my needle to insert it bevel up, meaning the needle's hole was facing upwards. The first time I inserted my needle I went in to far, so I missed the vein. This meant that anything into the patients body would have entered the tissue rather than the vein, which would be very bad. On my second try I was successful!
This Lab was both entertaining and informative. I hope we may get to try inserting an IV again before the year is over!
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