I practiced my finger stick on Mr. Perez today. Mr. Perez is a mannequin. What I learned was that the test strips are accurate and to wipe down the glucometer with PDI after every use. Microscopic amounts of blood is usually left on there and there have been cases of hepatitis being spread because people aren’t careful with infection control! So wipe it down before using it on someone else.
I also crushed medication and gave meds via the stomach (G Tube). First, push in 15 ml of air and listen for a swoosh. It should indicate that it’s patent. Unfortunately for me, it did not so when I first put in 30 ml of water to first flush, it didn’t do anything. Thankfully my instructor was nearby watching so she helped me unclog the adapter and the tube. I am actually interested in the research — what is the best way to clean out a clogged tube??
Lastly, for someone who is on dialysis (due to kidney failure), it is important to assess for a bruit and thrill. For a thrill, I felt a vibration pulsating with the beat of his heart. For the bruit, I used my stethoscope to hear a shoe — shoe— shoe— sound. Again, it’s with the beat of the heart. My coworker made a good observation — the artery may have a louder bruit compared for the vein. Interesting.