12162010

Presentation of certificates of completion....
Congratulations Everyone!

1102 MA Student Brushes Up Drawing Skills

Today in the lab, the H951 group practiced drawing each other and we had Amy, an MA student, come in to practice her blood drawing skills. Melanie showed her the basics of dorsal draws and at the end of the session, she attempted (and got!) Aubrey's difficult A/C! Congratulations Amy!

1027 -- The POTLUCK

After the final, I think that the POTLUCK was the event foremost in everyone's mind! There was so much food and family visitors, who were shown around the lab. All in all, a good time for everyone! Thanks to everyone for contributing to the success of the day!

Visitors from Collins High School

Just about the time the final ended, but before the potluck began, a group of students arrived from Collins High School for a visit. Evelyn and Kaylee stepped up to the plate with a "teach back" for the students, who were given a glove for the non-dominant hand and allowed to palpate Kaylee's veins! Nice work guys! Who knew that Evelyn could teach? She must have been channeling Simone or something. I didn't know she could draw and talk at the same time! Thanks for making RTC look so good to our guests!

The FINAL!

There isn't much to these two pictures, but the FINAL looms so large in the collective mind, that I couldn't not recognize it at out blog! Relive it now, and then go through the potluck pictures!

Pulled Pork Anyone?

Todd N. was kind enough to share his recipe for the fantastic pulled pork barbecue sandwiches at today's pot luck, so if you can't get enough good barbecue, here's your chance to relive part of today's buffet!


Ok due to popular demand......here is how I cook my bbq pork.......
you will need


1. pork shoulder or pork butt.
2. pork rub....I freelance my own but you can buy pork rub in a store,or go on Food network.com and look up Alton Brown's recipe for a pork rub...it mainly consists of salt ,pepper and cayenne or chili powder....follow the directions!!!!!
3. Crock pot.If you dont have a crock pot you can make this in the oven....you need some aluminum foil, and a cookie sheet to catch drippings
4.Rub pork rub all over shoulder gently.......after all what did that pig do to you????
5.if cooking in an oven preheat to 400 deg and cook for 1/2 hour till it gets a nice crust. lower temp to 200 deg then cover with foil for 6 hours minimum.
6. if using crock pot no need to brown it leave lid on and cover meat halfway with bbq sauce.cook for minimum 6 hours..
7. if cooking in oven apply bbq sauce during last 45 minutes of cooking...any earlier and the sugar in the sauce will burn leaving a bad taste......
8.sauce too thick??? add water or beer....sauce to thin ?????add more sauce genious!!!!!
9. After meat has cooked put on a cutting board to rest for 30 minutes....this allows meat juices to redistribute and not run out all over the plate
10. pork should be tender enough to pull with a fork...take 2 forks and pull pork apart...hence the name pulled pork.....
11. serve on buns....rolls or just eat it over the sink like I do when the missus aint looking.....


BBq sauce....I hate all commercial sauces..they are weak and dont do my pork any favors....go to the store and by 2-3 bottles of BBq sauce... get out a big bowl add bbq sauce and add 2 tablespoons of brown sugar,pinch of salt,onion powder ,garlic salt,and a splash of worstchester sauce and a splash of tobasco....i also add a tblespoon of minced garlic .....after you stir all that together taste it....what does it need ????? shot of whiskey??? more pepper???dont let your family be guinea pigs just because you didnt taste the bbq sauce before you appied it to the pork...enjoy......!!!!!
Also this recipe works excellent on chicken ...just use your crock pot or a big pot on the stove and 6-8 boneless skinless breasts ...you dont need to cook this as long maybe 3 hours on medium heat but you can use the same sauce and rub......

GOOD luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1026 Videos

Today we had open lab, resume and cover letter critiquing by Phoenix University and RTC staff and time for resume revisions, open lab (again) or studying for tomorrow's final!

Fall 2010 Phlebotomy Class Picture

From 1001 Class Photo

1025 Stills

Just a couple of days to go! Here are a few stills...

A Newly Minted, Board-Certified Phlebotomist

RTC Alum Lado R. was on hand Saturday to polish his resume and share harrowing stories about the national phlebotomy certification exam that he took in June! He received his certificate in September and joined us at our "Job Search" Saturday morning on campus. Here he is with his certificate and looking very happy to have it! Congratulations Lado and best of luck to you with your job hunt! That cert is sure to help!

From 1023 Newly Minted, Board Certified Phlebotomist!

1022 Todd's BD Plus a Hall of Fame Attempt!

In addition to it being Todd's birthday today, we had a student make a "hall-of-fame" draw attempt. As everyone knows, a successful A/C draw on Simone gets you a place in a very exclusive club of about 20 pre-clinical students that were able to draw her successfully. I think we may have some more tries next week, so stay tuned!

1022 Todd's 45th

If you're going to have a birthday in class, try to make sure that a pro baker like Sarah B. (B as in BumbleCakes.blogspot.com) is on hand to bring the cake! Awesome timing Todd! Todd's gain in years worked well for the rest of us, because we all got a nice big piece of delicious home-made and professionally decorated chocolate cake! Yum! (Thank you Sarah!) The cake came just in time to up our blood sugar after a morning spent drawing blood in the lab.

1020 Just Two Draws Today...

There was a lot going on in the lab and classroom today and I only managed to get two blood draws... Here they are...

1019 Rare Footage of John being Drawn!!!!!

Someone got the camera out of John's hands today and managed to film him being drawn! At the end of this series of draws are some beautiful blood smears! Our skills are really improving! Must be nearly time for clinicals to begin!

Our Last Full Week

This was our last full week and picture taking got erratic, so I have compiled what photos I did take into one album for the week (10/18 ~ 10/22) (except for Todd's 45th birthday, of course!

1015 Videos -- Virtual Clinic Again

Today we were back in the lab, running our virtual clinic only to make our second day at it more interesting, Simone imposed the industry standard 5-minutes-per-patient rule. The students stepped up their game to meet the challenge and I think that we had many more successful draws today than on Thursday, our first day of "Virtual Clinic..."

We Caught you Studying!!!!!

My wife and I were in the RTC library late Friday afternoon to get some phlebotomy videos and we CAUGHT some students that had formed a study group and were getting ready for our upcoming procedures and mid-term tests!

Good job using your Friday for test preparation! You set a great example!

1015 FOUR DOZEN (Count 'em!) DOUGHNUTS!!!!!

Friday was a good day in many ways.... One reason was the fact that two generous benefactresses arrived with OMG! FOUR DOZEN DOUGHNUTS!!!! What a surprise and a sweet treat that was! (Always helps in the lab to boost the blood sugar before our draws, too!)

Here they are to be enjoyed a second time! (Thank you Sarah and Megan M.!)

1015 Lab Stills

We went back into the lab for our "Virtual Reality" exercise, this time with the standard "five-minutes-per-patient" time limit... The time limit added to the tension, but I think that more students drew successfully today than yesterday, when we went through the "Virtual Clinic" for the first time...

These are stills of the set up... Videos of the draws coming soon!

1014 Videos

Here are the draws that I captured today... Let's see what we can learn from them! Remember to consider color and number of tubes, order of draw, the best vein, the best needle...Oh Yeah!

1014 Another Day of Virtual Clinicals

We spent a good part of today in the lab again, doing clinical role-play. The exercise seems to be pretty effective in creating a clinical feel and students found it challenging to draw blood successfully...perhaps due to the additional layer of distractions typically found at clinical sites...

Here are the stills.

1013 Stills: Virtual Clinic!

Today Simone populated a virtual clinic/hospital with the entire class, assigning each student a unique role.
After giving the students 30 minutes to prepare to play their part, the clinic "opened." Four outpatients (one in a wheel chair) arrived for blood tests and had to check in through the Front Desk Receptionist, to be drawn later by the phlebotomists on duty. Meanwhile, there were inpatients awaiting an organ transplant, delivery of a baby (prematurely!) and another pregnant woman undergoing a glucose tolerance test and ABO. What tests? What color tubes? What order of draw? What tension!!!! We had a couple of RNs on duty to help out with patient identification, IV line checks and the like. Over in the lab, our technician issued accession numbers and processed specimens while the hematologist spun down hematocrits and made blood smears on slides as needed. Finally, we had a JCAHO Inspector, making certain that everything was performed to the proper standards. A Lab Supervisor delegated responsibilities while an MD and resident physician ordered tests based on their diagnoses, writing requisitions for the Ward Clerk! It was very busy and this was all before 10:00 AM! After break, the students switched roles and continued to run the clinic under "New Management!" Later, before we left for lunch, Simone made a moment to reflect with the students on what we had learned in our virtual clinic.
We will be repeating this exercise again soon and I hope to capture some videos to post at that time. Today I took stills. Here they are!

1012 Videos

After a round of syringe draws earlier, the class returned ETS draws in the A/C. Here are some videos...

I had some trouble uploading all of these videos, so I'm going to try again soon...

Sorry to keep you all waiting!

John

1012 Stills -- Procedures!

Today after our second major test, the students worked on procedures in the lab. Here are a few stills of them at work.

1011 Procedures

Here are a couple of quick pans of the lab, showing the class working on procedures in their respective groups.

10/11 Procedures and EKG/ECG

Today we began working on procedures in the lab, including GTT, Blood Cultures and ABO (crossmatch, type and screen, blood typing)!

Here are some stills.

1008 Videos

Here are some of the draws that students did before class this morning. During the afternoon, we were visited by Neil's "guest patients" and things got so busy that I only got a few of those draws. Also, there's a rare two-part video of ME being drawn (thank you Lindsey!), since I'm usually on the other end of the camera. I guess I know how it feels now!

Slide Images from Megan's RNA Tube

Megan M. found and drew an "RNA" tube (dark blue top with a black ring in the top, says "shake vigorously after filling") yesterday and set up a slide from it. Today she examined the slide under the microscope and asked me to take pictures of it. This is what she found.... I suspect that it's a new life form, but Megan is going to try to track it down on the 'net!

Any guesses?

1007 Videos

I filmed more than 30 draws today! It's going to be awhile before I get them all uploaded, but they will be added gradually between now and midnight tonight!

Enjoy!

1007 Stills

We had 13 stations today (a lucky number, I guess!) and guest patients! I think it was a rigorous, but rewarding day! Whew! Here are a few stills from the lab today, starting with the "Class-y Jeopardy Mix-Up..."

1006 Blood Draws (Video)

This was our last day of very-early-morning blood draws! Thanks everyone for pulling together and coming in! We have really maintained our momentum by continuing to draw each day before the CPR and 1st Aid. The rest of the week should seem easier by comparison!

Here are the draws that I got today!

1006 First Aid/CPR Wrap Up (Stills)

Today was our last day with Johnny and Dot Bell learning Healthcare Provider First Aid and CPR. Here are a few stills!

1005 Morning Blood Draws

Today was our second day of early morning blood draws. Here are the videos that I captured. Enjoy!

1004 Lab Videos

These are mostly early morning draws performed between 7:00 and 8:00 AM, just before the CPR/First Aid Class began, plus a few videos of CPR Action Videos toward the end...

1004 Lab Stills

Here are some stills from today's CPR/First Aid class in the lab.

Enjoy!

1001 Videos

Today, right in the middle of our lab, we had an unexpected visit from Neil Foltz's LPN class. There must have been around ten students in all and some of them asked to be drawn twice! We were happy to see them and would like to welcome them all back soon! Our CPR/1st Aid schedule has blacked out Monday Tuesday and Wednesday next week, but we would love to accommodate them next Thursday or Friday during our lab time. Team Phlebotomy should be up to speed by then so I think it will be possible to do up to four draws on each LPN student, if they wish to do so and if it doesn't bankrupt Mr. Foltz's budget for extra credit! Here are today's videos...

1001 Stills

Here are a few stills taken during our in-service "teach backs"

0930 Blood Draws

We had a combination of dorsal and A/C blood draws in the lab today... Here are the pairs I caught on video...

0930 Dorsal Draw In-Service Stills

Here are a few snapshots of Simone's laboratory in-service, where she demonstrated the art of dorsal blood draws....

0929 Videos

Here are the draws that I captured today. Tomorrow, we're scheduled to begin dorsal draws!

0928 Lab Videos

I recorded quite a few draws today... You guys are looking better and better! The first video is a pan of the classroom when we were working on choking procedures in pairs.

Enjoy!

0927 Lab Video

Here are today's draws... (Just the ones that I was able to capture....)  If I haven't videoed you yet, I will soon!

Enjoy!

0927 Lab Rotations

We continued with our rotations today, but remained in the classroom and lab. I caught a few good blood draws on video and here are a few stills.

0927 David Grant

David Grant paid the class a visit to share his life on dialysis and subsequently successful kidney transplant experience. Our budding phlebotomists got a chance to palpate his A/V (arteriovenous) shunt or fistula and ask questions about his fistula with respect to phlebotomy. It has been an exciting few days, with the on campus visit of PSBC on Friday and Mr. Grant's visit today. It has been a nice way to distract ourselves without too far off task right before tomorrow's test!
Enjoy!

0924 PSBC Visits RTC Campus

Today the Puget Sound Blood Center visited the RTC campus and our phlebotomy class divided into seven groups for rotations through a variety of lab and testing activities... Here are some shots taken a the blood center.

0923 First Day of Draws

The first week is usually hectic and this one was no exception. I only captured about 1/3 of the draws in the lab today, but if I missed you, I will try to get you on another day! Meanwhile, run through your steps so that your draw will be really polished when I do video you!

Enjoy!

0923 Stills

Today was our first day of blood drawing. We started with Simone demonstrating the proper procedure in the classroom, before moving in small groups into the lab.

Here are some of the stills...

Simone's Surprise Birthday Party

Today was Simone's Birthday and we celebrated it in class during our break with a few dozen cupcakes. Here are a few shots....

0812 RTC Graduation at the ShoWare Center in Kent

It was sunny and hot, but the graduates looked great in their red caps and gowns! Here are some stills and a few videos of what I could capture! Congratulations Everyone! You all worked hard to get to where you are!

0723 Potluck, One Blood Draw, Renton River Days RTC Booth (Video)

0723 Potluck, One Blood Draw and Scenes from Renton River Days

Today was the last day of class... The H941 group will be heading out to clinicals next week and H943 will be coming in on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 5:00 PM to keep up their blood drawing skills until they go out to clinicals on their own. Today was also the potluck, which was delicious. Many students came with their families in tow. It was great to meet the people providing the support from home that made the success of the students possible! (Thank you families and loved ones!)
Here are the images and a couple of videos.

David Grant Thrills the Phlebotomy Class!

David Grant paid the class a visit today, interrupting a major test, to share a bit about his A/V fistula with the class (and give some attentive students a chance to answer the extra credit question on the exam correctly! Here are a few stills from the class.

0715 Lab Activity

Today we finished all of the I-BEST testing! Thank you everyone for your help and cooperation!
Tomorrow we will have our second major test over the second half of the textbook, so the lab today was pretty much open to the students to work on any area of phlebotomy that they wanted. Here are a few videos of what they did....

0714 Lab Syringe Draws!

In addition to starting the I-BEST exit testing (Thanks Everyone!), the students learned to do their first syringe draws, which means that we have now covered all of the basic blood-drawing techniques that we will learn in class. We also reviewed procedures (with some help from about 10 "volunteers!"). Here are the videos!

0713 Lab Activities

There are a number of good draws here and several that are just fair, but if you watch them carefully, you should be able to learn something from all of them. If you are watching a draw with a butterfly needle, think critically while you watch. These draws are posted so that we can continue learning outside the classroom, so try to step up your game visually.

0712 Lab Activity -- Procedures!

With CPR and First Aid out of the way, the class quickly moved forward to finish up the textbook and begin working on procedures. There are six procedures that we study in phlebotomy: Blood Cultures, Capillary Draws, Crossmatch (AKA Type and Screen, blood-typing or ABO) Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT), Isolation and PKU. Today, we had RTC Phlebotomy Program Alums Danny, Shayna and Ahmiro to help out with in-lab teach-backs. Thanks everybody for your help! Here are some images




Here are a few draws from Monday. (Don't forget to re-review your steps EVERY Monday everybody!)

Friday's classroom activities: CPR

Here is one video from today: Baby, baby, are you OK?????

A few videos of classroom activities (CPR)

CPR in action!

0608 Too Hot to Handle!

Something was wrong with the air conditioning in the classroom today, so we had to move to another room for the first aid test and to continue our CPR training! (It was even too hot for blood draws!) The heat wave is expected to continue today at slightly lower temperatures...Meanwhile, here are some pictures and videos from yesterday's class.

More First Aid with Johnny and Dot

Today we worked on burns, bandages and slings. Here are some stills



Here are a few of the blood draws from today.

First Day of First Aid with Johnny and Dot Bell!

Here are some stills of the students learning to tie bandages on each other's arms.

0702 Blood Draws

The pace was pretty quick once everyone realized that they needed to have two successful draws (one dorsal, one ETS) before they left for the day. I was also out preparing an extra credit exercise and did not capture all of the draws, but here are the ones that I did get.

0701 Blood Draws

Here are a dozen draws from the first of July. (Capillary fingersticks don't film too well, so I focused (so to speak) on the dorsal draws....

0701 Stills

Yesterday's capillary sticks became today's dorsal draws and vice versa! Here are some stills from the lab...

0630 Blood Draws

We expanded our range of blood draws today, with Simone teaching dorsal draws (and some A/C) with the butterfly and capillary sticks. UA and blood smear practice continued as well.... and that was after we finished our first big test! Here are 32 assorted blood draws for your viewing pleasure!

0630 Stills

Here are some random shots around the lab after we finished our FIRST MAJOR TEST!

0629 Blood Draws

We had a very enthusiastic group of phlebotomists in the lab today running UA, aliquoting samples into pour-off tubes, spinning hematocrits and making blood smears while perfecting A/C ETS draws and working on using winged infusion sets (butterflies). Here's how it played out....

0629 Stills

Here are a few still shots from today's class and lab.
We had visits from two students returning from clinicals, a tube chart competition in an attempt to learn the tube chart before the tomorrow's test and, of course, more practice in the lab!

0628 Blood Draws

Some of today's blood draws.....

0628 Today's Stills

Here are some stills from student presentations and lab exercises.

0625 Blood Draws: Inpatient, Outpatient, Hall of Fame...!!!!

Tonight we saw something that doesn't happen very often.... Samantha joined the Hall of Fame when she performed her second draw on Simone.... successfully!  It was the first draw of the day, so it is here in this group, but you will also be able to view it a bit later with the other Hall of Fame draws!

Congratulations Samantha. You're just the fourth Hall of Famer in 2010!  What are you going to do for an encore?

0625: Mocking Blood Draws (Stills)

Here are some random shots throughout the lab of our students mocking blood draws during the early part of the class.

0624: Our First Blood Draws!

I apologize in advance if I missed anybody... If I missed your draw, let me know tomorrow and I'll make a concerted effort to capture your "screen test!"
I saw some really good draws tonight, especially considering it was nearly everybody's first time!  I think we're going to have a fine crop of new phlebotomists soon!

Nice work everyone!

0624: A few stills from the lab

There was a lot going on today, so I only got a few stills. You'll probably be more interested in the videos, which (I think) show everyone doing their first draws!

A tourniquet tie-off!

Some of the students just couldn't quite believe their eyes when they saw Simone do her one-handed tourniquet-tying flourish! Some of the more persistent (insistent?!?) students wanted a special lesson... here's what happened!

From Rodney and Simone tie tourniquets

June 23rd: A few stills from today's class

This has been a very productive week and it's only Wednesday! The students got into the lab tonight and ran through A/C blood drawing techniques without unsheathing the needles in preparation for tomorrow's first draws!  I saw some really good technique tonight!  Tomorrow, I hope to get some video footage to post, so be sure to run through your draws in your sleep tonight!

0602 Blood Draws

0601 Blood Draws

Here are some of the draws that the students did today in class, including one hall of fame draw by Charneice!

0527 High School Career Specialists Vist RTC

In keeping with today's theme of career training, the students shared what goes on in RTC's Phlebotomy Technician Program with a delegation of High School Career Specialists that was visiting RTC. They wanted to learn more about possible career paths for the students and to understand the value of the phlebotomy program in particular. In addition to a cookie, I think that each of today's visitors left with a very good impression of the program and the kind of poise, confidence, training and skills that can be developed in the students in just five weeks. Testament to the strength of the program and the quality of students that it attracts. Good job everyone!

0527 Blood Draws

After giving their first tour of RTC's Phlebotomy Technician Program, the students kept up a rigorous pace, moving on to blood draws. Here are a just a few....

0527 Visit from Motoko

Today the phlebotomy class was paid a visit by Motoko Nakazawa-Hewitt, a student adviser at RTC. The class gave her an idea of what students accomplish during their five weeks of phlebotomy training.

0526 Regular In-Class Draws

Here are most of the in-class draws that the students did today. Ya gotta admit... they're getting pretty darn good!

See for yourself!

0526 AM Stills

We plied them with......DONUTS! (And they went for it!) We promised a donut for each of the first ten students that came in before class to do blood draws and we delivered! There are some very enthusiastic (and increasingly skillful) phlebotomists doing blood draws now! I have a feeling that Simone will be introducing syringe draws soon... Wow!
To see these guys in motion, check out the window right below this one!

0526 AM Draws

What do you like to do early in the morning? Draw blood? If you, you might find yourself featured in one of these videos. Some of the students from the H945 and H947 classes braved a light rain to come in an practice their draws before class even starts (okay, we did offer free donuts to the first ten students!) Suffice to say that they have really stepped up their skills and are now coming into their own as phlebotomists.

0525 Visit from Volunteers from Neil's LPN Class

The mood in the lab today was bustling with about 30 volunteer students from the LPN class coming in to offer up their arms for extra-credit blood draws.

Thank you everyone for coming in to be drawn! You helped us step up our game! Hope to see you all again soon!

ENJOY!

0524 Blood Draws

A/C draws with the ETS and dorsal draws with the butterfly!!!

0521 Blood Draws

Our guests today were divided among several stations. Here's some of what was happening during their visit...

0521 ESL Writing Class Visits!!!!

Today we had a visit from an RTC ESL writing class! Several of the students are interested in phlebotomy, either as a career or a concept, and they came in search of a cure for writer's block!

0520 Lab Draws A/C butterflies, inpatient ETS draws and capillary fingersticks, oh my!

0520 Stills

Select Blood Draws

0519 A few stills from today's lab

We had a busy day in the lab today (After our first major test, of course!). There were five stations of activities, including inpatient blood draws, producing and staining blood specimens, capillary finger sticks, centrifuging hematocrit tubes to determine a patient's hematocrit levels and butterfly draws in the A/C and aliquoting samples into pour-off tubes. We even had a microscope for viewing the blood smears up close and personal!

0518 Blood Draw Videos (Day 4)

Here are 23 videos of lab activities from Tuesday May 18th. It was a big day with most students going for two draws: outpatient and inpatient.

0518 Some Stills of Lab Skills

We used the camera so much in class today that there wasn't enough power to get all of the inpatient blood draws, but I'll keep trying! Here are some stills of the activity in today's lab. To download your own, double click on the image, go to PicasaWeb.com, click on "view all" and use the drop-down menu with the "download" label.

0517 Blood Draws

Day three of blood draws! Today was our third day of draws and we're getting better each day! See for yourselves!!!!!

0514 Second Day of Blood Draws

I got all but a few of today's draws... Monday I'll try to get everybody!

Enjoy!

0513 First Day Stills

Here are some still photos of first-day warm-ups before our draws...

0513 First Day of Draws

Today was our first day of blood draws! We also had special out-of-town guests, so I wasn't able to capture everyone's first draw, but I'll do better on Friday!

0511 Puget Sound Blood Bank at RTC!

We found out about the Blood Bank's visit quite by accident, but it was a good visit. Out of six students that registered to donate blood, three were able to donate, so the Phlebotomy Class singlehandedly DOUBLED the number of on-campus donations this morning! Thank you Melissa, J'avon, Ericka, Marilyn, Hollie and Lisa for your generosity of spirit!
Also, Melissa was drawn by Ann Marie, a former student of Simone's at RTC!!!!

0507 First Aid Scenarios

Here are some shots from some of the first aid scenarios on Friday... Enjoy!

0506 First Aid: Tying Bandages and Slings

Today Dot taught the class the proper technique for tying bandages and slings. Here are the results.

0504 Infant CPR "Baby, baby, are you okay?"

Tuesday was a busy day and it included a CPR test, so I only have two videos to share. Here they are!

0503 CPR Stills (Suitable for framing!)

Double click the slide show to go to our RTC Phlebotomy Picasa Web Album and look for the "View All" link for this show. You will then be able to select and download the images you like to your computer for printing...

May 3rd: H945 and H947 begin CPR with Johnny and Dot Bell

Sir, are you okay? Sir, can you hear me? Hey, you! Go call 911 and get an AED!

0423 Infant CPR

Our last day of lab and theory was devoted to the second half of Johnny and Dot Bell's CPR class, which involved infant CPR. Here are some videos of that class. Good luck in clinicals everyone! Don't forget to stop by to visit or do blood draws!

0423 Infant CPR Stills!

Many of you were asking for copies of the class picture. You can download any of the STILL photos (not the videos) to your computer by double-clicking on the image, going to the PicasaWeb web site and using the Download dropdown menu there. Please e-mail me if you have any problems!

Earth Day Potluck!!!! (Oh yeah, and the final too!)

The first few pictures in the slide show feature the students taking their finals, with the mouth-watering buffet in the middle of the room as their motivation, which was heightened by Simone when she helped herself to one of Kunthy's spring rolls! Good Job Everybody! It was great to meet your families and dinner was fantastic!

0421 CPR with Johnny and Dot Bell

EIGHTH GRADERS!!!!! (April 20th)

We had a tour of eighth graders come through earlier this week and a group of students to show them what phlebotomy is all about. Here's a slide show of that day.

Enjoy!

Visit with John Quinn (April 15th)

John Quinn came to talk to the class about his journey to becoming an RN today. He had been an engineer and felt that he wanted to try healthcare and joined Simone's class as a way to "test the healthcare waters." He really enjoyed it and after completing his phlebotomy certificate, he went on to study nursing and Simone attended his pinning this spring! Good luck John!

0414 Lab

Almost more draws than you're gonna believe.... Honestly!

David Grant.... LIVE!

David Grant, one of our favorite visitors, stopped in to WOW the class with his THRILL! It was thrilling, too, as you can tell from the expressions on the students' faces!

Enjoy!

Pre Clinical Class Photo, 04142010

Ready for Clinicals!!!!!!

April 13th Lab

Quite a productive day today with lab, mid-term review and resume/cover letter writing. We only have a few full days left! (Keep in mind that we will be having three more days of CPR/First Aid and one day of HIV/AIDS awareness...)

0412 You guys have really stepped up your game! Take a look!

Syringe Draws!

0409 Draws Round 1!

We did two rounds of blood draws today. Here are some from the first set.

ETS draws revisited and a couple of random butterflies

The Second Major Test

Here are a few scenes from the "writer's cramp" test... Now a mere memory!

A few butterfly draws on the eve of the 2nd Big Test!

April 6th Butterfly Draws

Working on Dorsal Draws in between First Aid Instruction (No Foolin'!)

What with our First Aid class tonight, there wasn't much time to practice blood draws except before class and during break. The students are getting faster at their draws, making it harder and harder to get everyone.... Progress! (sigh...)

Johnny, Dot and the Phlebotomy Students Tie One On!

Part of the Allied Health program requires that all students in the programs learn to really tie one (bandage, that is) on with the teachers! Here's proof!

0331 Dorsal Draws

We worked on dorsal draws with a butterfly needle and finger-stick capillary draws. Simone did an in-service on me for the finger-stick capillary draw and there were threats to upload that draw to YouTube, so watch out world!

Here are today's draws... (Capillary draws don't film well, so these are just the dorsals (most of them anyway...).)

0330 Blood Draws After the First Major Test

I saw a lot of good draws tonight! You guys are starting to look like real phlebotomists! I think that Simone will be ready to take you to the next level (meaning butterflies and dorsal draws) soon! Good work making such nice draws after taking that grueling test. Today's test was sort of an indication of where we're at collectively and what we need to do during the next 3.5 weeks so let's keep our focus and our wits about us!

Monday Draws (03/29/2010)

There's something about Monday blood draws... Coming back after the weekend, it's hard to keep all of the steps straight and there were a number of forgotten steps during tonights draws... Don't forget to review the steps before you actually draw. Your progress will be much faster (and you'll have successful draws more often) if you review your steps carefully. As Simone says, everything matters. The needle is the easy part... It's the preparation that will make your draw successful! That said, there were a number of really nice draws tonight. Watch closely and learn!

March 26th Blood Draws

Well, I think I managed to get everyone's blood draw videoed today... I heard reports of difficulties viewing yesterday's draws, so I will try looking into what went wrong, but please report any problems that you have with this blog to me.

Thanks, and now please enjoy your draws!

John

March 25th, 2010, Day Two of Draws for H941, H943

Yesterday was gone in a flash and the class was divided into groups, which precluded videos, but we got everyone's draws tonight! Simone is planning to review these tomorrow during class. If you are having problems with any aspects of the drawing process or want to perfect your budding skills, please come in at 4:00 for the I-BEST hour. We'll be reviewing blood collection tubes, going over the crossword puzzles, etc. Let's make a good showing before the weekend, because soon there'll be only four weeks left!

Jana's Draws

Jana came back to give the new students some insight into clinicals, job hunting (congratulations, Jana!) and blood draws, all of which were very nicely presented! (Disappointingly, technical problems prevented the last draw from being recorded....) Hope you can make it in again on Thursday Jana!

AM Potluck!!!!!

I didn't think it could be done... Simone wasn't sure that you'd want it, but..... It was FANTASTIC! I couldn't believe how much food there was! I can't wait for the next AM potluck! What a great idea!

Last Day of Class for H945

Today was our last regular theory/lab session... It's been great working with everyone! See you next week sometime during the three lab days we'll be hosting!

Simone and John

A few draws on March 10th

Simone led a "syringe draw" in-service today, so I only captured a few draws. Hopefully, we'll have some syringe draws to post tomorrow!

Early Morning Blood Draws on International Women's Day!

Clinical Visits and Presentation of Certificates

Simone and I went out to Covington and over to Bellevue to visit students who were finishing up their clinicals and present them with their certificates. There are so many of Simone's former students out there it was almost like a class reunion! Congratulations to Rachael, Jana and Lado! (Huy has another week or so before he's done.) Good job everyone! You kept your eyes on the prize!

Simone and John

Infant CPR 03052010

Today the class finished their CPR and First Aid Training with Infant CPR and testing. Good job everyone!

CPR with the Mannequins

Here are eight stills and one pan-around-the-room video. Tomorrow we'll have scenarios: Lights, Camera, ACTION!

Early Morning Blood Draws -- To Get the Blood Flowing!

Four enthusiastic early birds came in to draw blood BEFORE class this morning... It was AWESOME! Your skills are getting to the point where I'm not fast enough to catch everyone in the act! (Sorry about the poor timing Walter!) Three solid draws, so enjoy!

Drawing on Break from CPR/1st Aid (March 3, 2010)

What better way to relax after several hours of CPR than taking a minute for a blood draw! Nice work everyone! Really love that enthusiasm!

Shelley's Inspiring Talk from the Front Lines of Clinicals

Simone told her she was going to love Sea Mar Olympia....and she DID! Shelley came in today to share stories from her three-week internship at Sea Mar Olympia, including an exciting one about a "happenstantial" CBC work-up that revealed acute lymphoblastic leukemia! Talk about a C.S.I. kind of experience! Very exciting and inspiring! Thanks for sharing Shelley!!!

Dot's First Day of First Aid

March 1st Blood Draws

A Gold Medal Draw!

For convenience, we've made it possible to view each of the medalists individually, but you can watch each event (including the exhibition draws) farther down the page.

Enjoy!

Simone and John

A Silver Medal Draw!

Two Bronze Medal Draws!

Our Olympics!

Pre-Olympic Exhibition Round of Dorsal Draws

H945 Phlebotomy Students Host Teach Backs! (Part IV)

H945 Phlebotomy Students Host Teach Backs! (Part III)

H945 Phlebotomy Students Host Teach Backs! (Part II)

H945 Phlebotomy Students Host Teach Backs!

Today, the H945 students hosted the MA Program students at a "Teach Back," where the phlebotomy students paired up with MA Program students to offer instruction in the basic A/C (antecubital) blood draw. The atmosphere in the lab was upbeat and many of the MA Program students demonstrated real prowess during their draws and some of the phlebotomy students showed promise as teachers! We were also joined in the lab by some pre-clinical students that were keeping their drawing skills fresh and happy to have some new arms to draw from!