0228 (Saturday Session) Working with Butterfly Needles (Winged Infusion Sets)

At today's Saturday session, the focus was on butterfly needles or winged infusion sets. Simone demonstrated proper techniques for the students, who practiced diligently with fake arms or styrofoam until they were confident enough to try their first draws.
I took videos today until I ran out of battery power, missing the last two draws. There are some smaller bits and pieces and several of Simone helping students work out "butterfly boo-boos." All of the errors today were common among first-time butterfly draws, so it's worth watching all of today's draws because most of them contain something that we can all learn from. Reviewing your classmates will help to make you a stronger, more confident and ultimately, a more successful phlebotomist.

(I got the camera battery recharged and am uploading the videos, but they are going slowly at this point  (Saturday late afternoon-early evening) because I think my neighbors are crowding me out of bandwidth. Nevertheless, I will be adding them to our blog until they are finished. 

Carmela (and Karan) Provide Donuts for Saturday School class!!!

Carmela treated the class to a DOZEN DONUTS today. (Karan provided the muscle to carry them all the way from Safeway!)  They were delicious! (And I know!)

Thank you both for making this important event happen!!!!!


Here are some donut shots....

Everyone's Heard of Sunday School.... but Saturday School?

Simone hosted a "Saturday School" session today, partly because of our three snow days but also because many of the students were willing to come in for extra phlebotomy education. Today's theme was butterfly draws, with a break for donuts, coffee and a CPR review.

Here are some stills....

Everyone's heard of the tooth fairy, but a donut elf???????

From 01262012 Donut Elf

Today the class was visited by a "donut elf," (whatever that is...)

I couldn't resist learning more about this elusive creature, so I used Google Images.... Here's what I found:

The caption read: "Donut Elf in mirror." Is this what it looked like?

The caption on this one claimed that the "good little guy" "delivered donuts."  Is this what he looked like?
H-m-m-m-m-m.....

The donuts were delicious, though... so.... Thank you Donut Elf!

0125 Teach-Backs!

Know whatcha know, show whatcha know, grow whatcha know! 

Today we had a visit from the students in the MLT (medical lab technician) program who stopped by to see what we have been doing in the lab. It was a great opportunity to visit and share basic techniques.  Here are some views:

Microhematocrit Twofer

Every wonder how to fill a microhematocrit tube? How about two at the same time?  Here's how:

0125 Lab Stills

Getting back on track in the lab. I captured a few more draws today than yesterday. We may have more later from today's teach-backs.

0125 Videos

Here are a few videos from today. Watching these can improve your drawing skills!

0124 Videos

Today we had our first draws in over a week! Draws are getting faster, so it's hard to get everyone's draw from start to finish, but I will keep trying to capture everyone in action! You guys are looking better and better -- very phlebotomish! Keep it up!

Visit from Kristi (Fall 2011 Phlebotomy Program Graduate!)

Kristi (Fall 2011) came in to visit and share some of her experience today. She is in the final stages of getting employed and I think that her words of encouragement went a long way toward convincing students to keep making good efforts.

0124 Lab Stills

Today we joined Michael Sealfon's phlebotomy class in the lab and practiced teach-backs and draws and the students are developing a very professional look and bedside manner. If you want to print out your own copies of any stills, please download the images from PicasaWeb (double click on the image at our blog.)

Thank you Amber, our most recent coffee sponsor!

Today's coffee was Amber's treat!  Thank you for boosting our energy levels with coffee!

From Coffee Sponsor

01/23 Lab Video

I only caught a few videos today, but tomorrow, we will be spending more time in the lab, reviewing older skills and adding new ones.

Scenes from the Lab 01/23

After a week away, we finally made it back into the lab. Here are a few scenes as we earn back our skills.
Enjoy!