Earlier this week, I had the pleasure to attend a Schreyer Distinguished Honors Faculty Program (DHFP) led by Professor Darlene Clark of the College of Nursing. The title of this particular program was “Medical Mannequins,” and it involved taking a tour of the simulation lab that’s used to train Penn State nursing students. The mannequins were undeniably the most awesome aspect of the whole program. They contain state-of-the-art technology that give them the ability to respond, in real-time, to any medications or treatments administered by the student. The simulation lab contains mannequins that can accurately simulate various medical emergencies, including a mannequin that undergoes labor and can give birth to a baby mannequin.
Apart from learning about the mannequins used by the nurses in their training, we also spent some time discussing the issue of medical malpractice, and how Penn State nursing students are being taught to prevent such mistakes. One of the devices we got to see was a pill-dispensing machine that only opened its cabinets after nurses typed in the medication and dose they were administering three times. In a hospital scenario, such a machine would only contain the medications that are commonly used on that particular hospital floor. The machine also requires nurses to swipe their ID card before opening, in order to prevent nurses from other parts of the hospital from accessing floor-specific medications. We also discussed how, nowadays, patients who are admitted to the hospital must wear bracelets and anklets that detail their personal information, such as their name, birthday, allergies, and other vital information. Every time a doctor or nurse comes to check on the patient, they must first scan the patient’s ID bracelet to confirm that they’re speaking with the right person.
Something interesting that Professor Clark made sure to emphasize was that nurses, not doctors, were the ultimate check to make sure that patients were given the correct medications at the correct doses. Even if a pharmacist makes a mistake and mislabels a medication, it is ultimately the nurses’ fault if a mistake occurs because nurses are the ones who actually give the patient the medication. As a result, nursing units in hospitals have begun to use an extensive color-coding system. Thus, nurses are more easily able to distinguish between medications of different dosages.
A 2016 CNN article reported on a Johns Hopkins study that suggested that medical mistakes kill approximately 250,000 patients annually in the US. This number does not include deaths that occur at nursing homes, so the number may actually be higher in reality. When I first read the article, I was absolutely shocked. Since day 1, doctors devote themselves to saving lives when they take the Hippocratic Oath and pledge to “do no harm.” Thus, it’s hard to believe that so many patients die due to careless mistakes. Considering this appalling statistic, it’s reassuring to know that medical professionals of the next generation, such as the nurses at Penn State’s College of Nursing, are being trained to prevent these errors.
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