Nursing students learn real life lessons in emergency
Above: Nicole Perks and Esther Eruysal
Imagine you’re out in public and a stranger suffers a medical crisis. Would you step in to help – or would you panic and freeze?
Esther Eruysal and Nicole Perks can now answer that question with confidence, after a recent experience at a local pharmacy.
The two first year nursing students in the BScN program (Accelerated Stream) at McMaster University were shopping for notepads one day in January. Nicole was browsing the shelves in one aisle and Esther in another.
“All of a sudden,” Nicole says, “I heard a big thud in the aisle beside me. I went around to see what had happened. A man had fallen over and he was seizing. He was bleeding from the head. A store employee was there and we turned him on his side. I yelled for Esther and she came running over and whipped out her wound care kit. We had just had our wound care lab that day. We kept him on his side, and put some pressure on his head.”
Esther explains that the man, who looked to be in his early fifties, had fallen backwards and had hit his head. There was blood everywhere. “I gave Nicole the blue pad from the wound kit and she put that under him. He was seizing, foaming at the mouth. He started turning blue at one point and I got kind of scared. It was nerve-wracking. It’s not until after the event that you realize what has happened. It kind of shocks you. I’ve never witnessed a seizure.”
The students worked together with a store employee and the pharmacist who came over when she saw what was happening.
“The biggest thing I realized is the importance of delegation,” Esther says. “When the pharmacist came over, I thought this is someone with more experience, so let her take the lead. She was very kind to us and the man who had fallen. And when EMS came, they took over.”
Once the paramedics arrived, Nicole notes, the gravity of the situation hit her. “I wasn’t scared before then, but once it was over, I could feel myself shaking. But to know that I was able to step forward and do something, that was a confidence booster in the end.”
Neither of the students’ BScN professors is surprised that they responded so proficiently in an emergency. Adrienne Seabrooke, Esther’s professor, describes Esther as “a jump-in-and-get-it-done person. I was impressed that the students were able to stay so calm. They have never had experience with real patients in a hospital. They gave a report to EMS and the paramedics were thoroughly impressed with their response to the situation.” Lynn Wright, Nicole’s ?professor, says that even in the short five weeks she’s known her, Nicole has “demonstrated insightful clinical reasoning and perceptive clinical judgment.” Both students are on their way to becoming excellent nurses.
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