Would you like to take a short tour of a clinical unit in a US hospital? This tour is optional, it is offered to those of you who want to develop a general sense of what a US clinical unit is like. We do not expect that you will grasp every detail or every term used during the tour. When you don't understand something make a quick note, chances are that your question will be answered as we cover terms in modules two and three. Also, we are happy to address questions that have to do with the language of the clinical area on the discussion board. The information presented with the video is a supplement to course content. It is an optional learning experience and you will not be tested on any of the information presented. Relax and concentrate on getting a feel for the environment of the US clinical unit. We will start with the nursing station, then the medication room, then a supply room, a kitchen, and lastly the patient's room. I will point out items of interest and briefly explain what activity occurs in the various rooms. First, we will visit the nursing station. The nursing station is the administrative center for nursing care for a group of patients. Size of the nursing station, the number of staff and the number of patients served differs widely. Usually a unit secretary is seated at a central desk. The secretary receives phone calls, answers questions, monitors the transportation of patients and orders materials for patient care. The nursing station is a communication and collaboration center. Usually there are doctors, various therapists and other persons involved in the care of patients moving about the station. Nurses often give and receive handoff or end-of-shift report on patients in this area. You will see many computers in use. US healthcare facilities are transitioning to electronic health records. Computers are used in the nursing station and on mobile carts that can be wheeled into the patient's room. Each computer can be used to access patient's records or a data bank of clinical information. Access to the patient's medical information requires a password. Notice the casual loose fitting clothing the nurses are wearing. These uniforms are called scrubs. Often the color of the scrub worn, varies according to the departments within the hospital or the role of the wearer. On this unit, the RN staff wears pale blue scrubs. The head nurse is wearing a white top and blue pants scrub uniform, and the nursing assistants wear green. You will learn more about the roles of these healthcare workers in module two. This RN is checking a patient's medical record using the Electronic Medical Record System. This is the medication room. Now the RN is using the medication administration machine, this is a complex electronic system for storing and dispensing medications. Physicians orders for medications are electronically transmitted to the pharmacy. They are filled there and then the medication is stocked in the medication room and in the medication administration machine. You see that the RN refers to the computer screen and notes what medications are needed for a particular patient. Then in electronic system facilitates access to drugs, in drawers, in the machine. Intravenous solutions are also kept in this room. Intravenous solutions are supplied in plastic containers or bags, the large bags of fluid for body fluid replacement and the administration of electrolytes and medications are seen here. The smaller bags are for administration of medication. The intravenous fluid flows through the bag, and through the plastic tubing of the infusion set seen here. A refrigerator is used to store some medications and solutions. Remember, we do not expect that you will be perfectly clear about what you're seeing here. Use of the electronic medication administration system interfaced with the electronic medical record is really quite complex. You are not expected to fully understand it at this time. We just want you to have an idea of what it looks like, you will receive more specific information about it in modules two and three and you will get a closer look at what the computer screen is showing. A typical clinical unit will have one or more supply rooms, here we find a wide array of items for patient care. You see sheets for the beds, light blankets and gowns for the patients to wear. Equipment for the administration of medications, and these tubes for drawing blood samples from an intravenous setup, are stored here. Then there are shelves of patient care items. Most of these are disposable after use. The stack of yellow items are protective gowns that staff wear if there is a possibility of contamination of clothing. These will be more clearly illustrated for you in Module 2. In this supply room, we will find oxygen tanks and equipment to help patients to be mobile, such as clutches and walkers. Let's leave the supply room and look at some equipment found in the hallway area near the nurses' station. This is the emergency cart, notice its red color. On top of the cart, we find packages containing equipment for assisting with breathing or monitoring and treating serious heart problems. Within its stores are supplies and equipments meant to treat cardiac and neurological emergencies. In the drawers we find equipment to administer medication and intravenous fluids. Here is the kitchen on this unit. We find a kitchen with easy access to juices, snacks, water and ice. Now let's take a look at a patient's room. Here you will find a typical electrically controlled patient care bed. On the all above the head of the bed, you will usually find an array of equipment. Here we have a monitor, thermometer, equipment for delivering oxygen, suction or negative pressure equipment with a large clear collection bottle, a blood pressure measurement set, an otoscope an ophthalmoscope with disposable covers for the probes is stored just above them. The odoscope and ophthalmoscope are used to examine the ears and the eyes. This is usually where you will find switches controlling lighting and the system used for verbal communication between the patient and the staff members. In the patient's room, you will find specific bins for the disposal of linen, and red receptacles for disposal of contaminated items. There is usually a closet for storage of items used for patient hygiene and for change of linen or change of gown. If this room were in use by a patient, it would look very different. You might find many types of equipment. In Module 2, you will learn terms to describe equipment used at the bedside of patients with common, surgical and medical problems. Then in Module 3 you will learn about terms used to describe emergency equipment you saw in this video and the medication administration equipment and IV infusion equipment that you just got a quick look at here. So after you work through Module 2 and Module 3, you may want to return to this video and see if you can identify items in the video using the terms that you have learned in the interactive modules. We hope that you enjoyed this brief tour of a common US clinical unit. [MUSIC]
