Standardized Patient portrays OUD (Opioid Use Disorder) individual In Situ to educate nursing team

 

Organization: Grant Hospital
HESS Components Used: Care Monitor, Thermometer, Body Sounds App, Magic Invisible Markers
Other Platforms Utilized: Standardized Patient, In Situ

The Story:

 

Medical Simulationist Stephanie Burgess and Nurse Educator Megan Thomas teamed up to utilize the HESS in a creative and engaging way for nurse learners at Grant Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Stephanie designed the exercise to include multiple objectives and to challenge the learners to overcome distractions that could lead to a negative outcome. Megan conducted the exercise - as well as the debriefing session where numerous valuable insights were discussed.

The "patient" was an individual with an OUD (Opioid Use Disorder) that came to the hospital because she thought she was feeling "drug sick." However, that was not the case. She was, instead, septic with a blood infection. Administering medication that the patient was demanding for her pain could have had serious consequences or even resulted in her death.

The HESS Care Monitor and Thermometer simulators along with the Body Sounds App and Magic Invisible Markers were ideal for putting the desired fake vitals on a Standardized Patient "in situ" in an actual patient room. The portability of the HESS allowed for a quick, inexpensive and non-disruptive setup to allow the learners to experience a realistic "mock" scenario without ever leaving their unit.

A little moulage was used to indicate signs of drug usage - and the combative nature of the "patient" contributed to the distractions - all designed to give nurses some valuable and active practice looking past moments of attentional bias to discover the underlying health issue.

Below is a picture of the "patient" being "moulage'd" and of the Magic Invisible Marker body sounds being verified before the exercise began.