# Trauma assessment on teddy bears



## SarahAus (Oct 10, 2012)

Studying for the skills portion of EMT class, and I have a teddy bear as my victim.  He makes for a very realistic unresponsive patient...

Someone else has been using a pillow.  Another student suggested a blow up doll... :rofl:  

Go on, what random things have you used as a patient??


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## STXmedic (Oct 10, 2012)

Wife 

Actually... I've been her patient more for her nursing assessments now that I think about it


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## shfd739 (Oct 10, 2012)

PoeticInjustice said:


> Wife
> 
> Actually... I've been her patient more for her nursing assessments now that I think about it



Same here..But we were both students then..

Its called touchy feely time with classmates for a reason.


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## DesertMedic66 (Oct 10, 2012)

I used my girlfriend. Also used students that were in the class with me. My group was a very close group haha. 

Where I teach we encourage the students to get hands on with the other students. All students have to do a trauma assessment on another student/instructor and more then likely have an assessment done on themselves. The best way to feel and find out what is normal for a human is to use a human. 

Also gets the male students over their fear of touching female students (for assessment purposes and not sexually.)


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## Jambi (Oct 10, 2012)

I've never understood the fear or reluctance to touch other people during an assessment.  It's not sexual, but a "professional" act for a specific purpose.

Also, it's good to remember that even that teddy bear has a GCS of 3  :rofl:


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## SarahAus (Oct 10, 2012)

Jambi said:


> Also, it's good to remember that even that teddy bear has a GCS of 3  :rofl:





I certainly use other students during class, but at home, the only time I get to practice stuff is when I'm home alone... hence the teddy bear!


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## bigbaldguy (Oct 10, 2012)

Dog and a blow up doll. Not that kind of blow up doll this kind http://www.thecostumer.com/p-22162-inflatable-mannequin.aspx?gclid=CNaV-I-597ICFQsFnQod4yIA7g


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## Achilles (Oct 10, 2012)

bigbaldguy said:


> Dog and a blow up doll. Not that kind of blow up doll this kind http://www.thecostumer.com/p-22162-inflatable-mannequin.aspx?gclid=CNaV-I-597ICFQsFnQod4yIA7g



I'll bet that google search went well 

I used my friends, family and classmates. Family was mostly used for practice with the sphygmomanometer


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## EchoMikeTango82 (Oct 10, 2012)

In my class we practiced on each other. We also had study groups outside of class at one of our homes and practiced on each other there as well.


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## Veneficus (Oct 10, 2012)

SarahAus said:


> I certainly use other students during class, but at home, the only time I get to practice stuff is when I'm home alone... hence the teddy bear!



How about extra clinicals?


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## mycrofft (Oct 10, 2012)

Since moulage has not proven to be of great value other than psychological, these are cost-effective alternatives


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## SSwain (Oct 11, 2012)

A rolled up carpet, a huge stuffed unicorn (my daughter's...not mine), my kids, my wife, class mates, and even my preceptors while doing clinicals.

I still practice on whatever or whoever will lay,stay still long enough.


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## DesertMedic66 (Oct 11, 2012)

SSwain said:


> A huge stuffed unicorn (my daughter's...not mine)



Don't lie. We don't judge haha


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## sirengirl (Oct 11, 2012)

firefite said:


> Also gets the male students over their fear of touching female students (for assessment purposes and not sexually.)



I was the only female in a class of county firefighters during medic. When we started class and they did the "EMT refresher" for the first week, my instructor had one of my classmates take off his shirt and shoes and lay on a table so we could all practice finding pulses on a person. And of course he happened to be very fit. Funny part was, I think his coworkers all got more of a laugh out of trying to creep him out touching him... Then my instructor told us all to stick our hands down our pants to find our own femoral pulses. They all did immediatey; I politely declined.

Then about a month later we all had to find the site for a needle decompression on each other's chests. All the married guys avoided me and the one single classmate walked up to me, pulled my collar to the side, and started palpating my chest for my ribs. I looked at him, laughed, and said,

"Do you like my third intercostal space?"

He turned very, very red, while everyone else laughed 

Also, one of the funniest days in class was when we had to run a trauma scenario and use ourselves as the victims. My instructor handed a pair of pants to one of my classmates and told him to change into them because he was the "victim" that fell down the stairs and he wanted us to practice cutting off clothing. My classmate looked at the pants, giggled, looked at me, and said, "Cap... I can't... I'm not wearing any underwear!"


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## Ewok Jerky (Oct 13, 2012)

So...I'm the only one who used my dog?


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## EchoMikeTango82 (Oct 13, 2012)

beano said:


> So...I'm the only one who used my dog?



How did you get a history? HAHA


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## Veneficus (Oct 13, 2012)

EchoMikeTango82 said:


> How did you get a history? HAHA



The bear is perfectly fine and hasn't been to the doctor in decades.


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## EMT91 (Oct 13, 2012)

Jambi said:


> I've never understood the fear or reluctance to touch other people during an assessment.  It's not sexual, but a "professional" act for a specific purpose.
> 
> Also, it's good to remember that even that teddy bear has a GCS of 3  :rofl:



In the field and clinical rounds I have not had any issues touching  female patients; but in class...it was weird because they were not in actual danger.


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## JPINFV (Oct 13, 2012)

Standardized patients (actors)... the only way to learn a physical exam before clinicals.


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## Jambi (Oct 13, 2012)

JPINFV said:


> Standardized patients (actors)... the only way to learn a physical exam before clinicals.



No practice on one another?  I'm not talking about intimate exams, but the more routine stuff?

I'm not sure what they pay these people, but for enough money I'd let people check my prostate all day...just sayin'


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## JPINFV (Oct 13, 2012)

Jambi said:


> No practice on one another?  I'm not talking about intimate exams, but the more routine stuff?
> 
> I'm not sure what they pay these people, but for enough money I'd let people check my prostate all day...just sayin'




The thing with the standardized patients is that it's treated as an actual timed encounter. Chart on the door to a mock exam room. Also, they're trained to act as a patient. That means providing appropriate and instantaneous answers to questions (unlike students, myself include, who might hem and haw over things like "Rate the pain"), and asking to complete a full exam. 

I'm not going to ask a female student to take off her shirt and lift her left breast so I can palpate the point of maximum impulse and listen to the bicuspid valve. 

I will, without a second thought, as a female patient (standardized or otherwise) to lower her gown and lift her left breast.

These also aren't directly observed (video camera and microphone in the rooms) and the SPs go over a checklist covering both exam components as well as communication skills. As such, there's feedback from the patient's perspective.


For the intimate exams (breast, pelvic, prostate/male genital), those are both SPs with additional training and pay, as well as directly supervised by a resident or physician with feedback from the patient.


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## Jambi (Oct 14, 2012)

So what's the hourly rate for these actors? Lol


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## JPINFV (Oct 14, 2012)

Jambi said:


> So what's the hourly rate for these actors? Lol



$15/hr

$14/hr

$18.50/hr after training


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## Jambi (Oct 14, 2012)

JPINFV said:


> $15/hr
> 
> $14/hr
> 
> $18.50/hr after training



Nice, that's more than medics make in that area!


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