Mechanical Ventilation

Another week in Respiratory Care is over! Yay and Nay! I am really enjoying this program. Thursday during lab we started mechanical ventilation. You know in shows like House and Grey's Anatomy, doctors or nurses are using this purple or blue bag and delivering Oxygen to patients. Come to find out Respiratory Therapists do the majority of bagging patients. Today we got to try out the big purple bag on manikins. 

Meet our patient, Mr. Mani Kin. 

And this one looks like Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. My teacher calls him basketball head. Not my favorite manikin, but he does the job.

Next, we learned how to put these tubes in their mouth. This would be used when the tongue is flopping around in the mouth and we can't get proper airflow to the lungs. We place this into the mouth and BAM! airflow into the lungs. 

Or we use one of these tubes that goes into the nose. 

These help us to be able to suction out secretions and that in turn, helps the patient breath better. That is the whole goal of Respiratory Care.

These ladies make lab worth going to every Tuesday and Thursday. Don't worry ladies clinical's start soon. 

Trip to New Jersey

Most of you know that Brian (my brother) is a UKC certified judge for dock jumping. He also gets the fun job of traveling everywhere for his job. Hence the reason I went to NJ. He needed a secretary for his event. You also know that I am in school and I was nervous I wasn't going to get my homework done, or I wouldn't be ready for my test on Monday. I decided to go anyway, mostly because I wanted to fly on a plane again. I hadn't been on a plane in 5 years! I love airplanes, especially take off and landing. This was my first time flying alone. My dad walked into the airport with me and I did the rest alone! (I felt like an adult, it was wonderful.) I even got a whole row of seats to myself!

This is where I sat, and they gave us PEANUTS! I was kinda shocked but they were really good.

When I landed in Baltimore, it took almost three hours for Brian and I to get back to the event. This meant lots of quality brother-sister time. Lots of looking out the window and lots of country music.

We went over many rivers and through hills but my favorite part of the drive was when we went under a river. That's right, UNDER a RIVER. The Baltimore Harbor Tunnel.

The drive was beautiful.

When you drive so much you eventually need gas. Fun fact: In New Jersey you are not allowed to pump your own gasoline. (Diesel is an exception.) It was like stepping backwards in time. These men would stand outside and wait for cars to pull in and they would pump your gas for you. This would be useful come winter in Michigan.

The event was held next to a sod farm. I didn't know there was such a thing. I knew about sod and what it was, I just never realized it was a place like this. It was pretty. Green grass for miles. 

(The windows were really dirty)

This was my first time as a secretary for UAD, I did okay. As long as everything was done on time, Brian didn't complain. He did a good job as always, and there were so many people and dogs! We had over 30 dogs in one splash!

All in all it was a good weekend. I finished all my homework, and Brian and I didn't get in any fights. We were even provided with a beautiful sunset to end our trip to New Jersey.

Respiratory Care Lab

I have been meaning to write a blog for awhile, and I finally got a quick minute to write about school.

As of right now, I love the program. I finally feel like I am going somewhere in school, instead of running circles in the introductory classes. 

This semester I have Anatomy and Physiology of Cardiopulmonary, Respiratory Procedures, Respiratory Procedures Lab,  Intro to Respiratory Care and Respiratory Pharmacology. 

 I actually learned how to do a lot of these things at work. I can not explain how helpful work has been while taking these classes, or how much taking an upper level A&P has helped.
My favorite class so far is probably Respiratory Procedures Lab. Mostly because we get to play with a bunch of very cool instruments.

For example, the one above is a vest that fills up with air and starts to shake you. It is not violent and I think it feels like a big hug that shakes you internally. We spend the majority of lab practicing our new found skills on each other. The instrument seen below is called an Acapella. You breathe into it and helps loosen the mucous from your lungs. This is normally done before you do a nebulizer treatment.

Lab is serious business for the majority of the time. Except, on Thursday, we all seem to get a little slap happy from such a long week of continuous studying. 

As for me, I tend to study a lot. Mostly because I am waiting for the bus, and I need to keep up in my classes. In the library my desk normally looks like this.

I have my computer, books, folders, notebooks, binders, homework, workbooks, power cords, and a whole lot of notecards. If I get a study room with a whiteboard my rooms looks more like this. (I do love whiteboards.)

Sometimes you just need to take a break from school and get coffee. Since, I don't have a coffee maker at school, I tend to go to Starbucks and get an afternoon coffee, because without it I would not make it home awake.

Time to get back to studying, I have midterms next week.