Manage the patient suffering marine envenomation - the typical learner's narrative

Manage the patient suffering marine envenomation.

The how, what, when, where, why of a ‘typical’ student’s experience

The following is written from a first person student perspective.

My role within the group

During my residential school for the above I was involved in a number of OSCEs (practical scenarios) around managing the patient suffering Marine Envenomation.  These were for both practice and assessment purposes.  All scenarios were conducted in a group of four with students who were able to pick their own groups.

In addition to the four students each group had an experienced Paramedic/tutor assigned to them.  Their role was to run the overall scenario and to assist us with direction and feedback.

Within these scenarios (OSCEs) I had a number of roles including:

·         Primary Officer

·         Second Officer

·         Reviewer giving feedback

·         Marker for my peers

OSCE

The Course Coordinator organised for us to undertake the OSCEs on the beach with real Surf Life Saving people (a sort of joint exercise).  This really added to the experience as it felt real (including the sun burn because I forgot to reapply sunscreen).

Actors were also employed to play the role of patient and bystander which only added to making it as real as possible.

The scenarios were all based on cases the course coordinator had attended personally or had knowledge of because they were involved in the case auditing which made the experience seem more real.

Tasks

During each of the OSCEs I had a different task as stated above.

OSCE 1 – Marker.

I was provided with a I pad which had the marking form in an interactive PDF which I just had to tick the boxes when the primary officer completed a task.

This was difficult because it was the first time the scenario was done and I felt a little out of my depth.  The scenario moved very quickly as the Primary Officer was a Life Saver as well as being a Student Paramedic and I had some trouble keeping up.

The interactive PDF form on the I pad had been explained to us but I had to complete most of it during the feedback phase as the screen was difficult to see in the bright sunlight.

OSCE  2 – Primary Officer.

When it was my turn to do the scenario it was a very different experience.  All of the things I had thought of as points to improve on from OSCE 1 largely went out the window because I had to physically do the skills and think about what questions I wanted to ask.  I did manage to include a couple of points to improve on from OSCE 1 so it wasn’t too bad.

OSCE 3 – Reviewer.

I liked this role as I got to just watch and think about what the crew performing the OSCE was doing, what I would do differently and some of the other history taking questions I would ask next time.  Being in a small group of friends who I regularly attended residential schools with was good and I felt comfortable giving feedback.

As the reviewer it was also my role to video the OSCE so the primary officer could review it later or if there was a problem with marking.  Using an I pad to video outside was difficult as I had trouble viewing the screen but I liked the fact the video was there in case the assessors missed something during the scenario.

Results

As a marker I felt nervous assessing my peers but all passed which was great.  The tutor assigned to our group provided direction when marking to assist me when I didn’t know which way to go.  He first asked me what I was thinking of recording on the marking sheet and why before telling me what he was thinking and justifying it.

Reflections

Learning reflections

During the OSCEs I learned heaps about managing the patient suffering marine envenomation and it was good to undertake the scenario a number of times although I think three is too many, two would have been better.  By the end of the third run everyone felt as though they had learned as much as they could and it got boring.

I liked being able to select my own group as having my friends around made me feel more comfortable whilst undertaking the practice and assessment scenarios. 

I also really liked the actors they did a great job of acting how I imagine a real patient would and having it at the beach with a real life guard added to the realism.  This is what we will have to face in the real world and I think if it was in a classroom setting I would have had trouble imagining the scene.

During the feedback for each group I learned from what they had done well and points to improve on and the assessor/tutor gave the feedback in a really positive way.

Technology reflections

I liked the fact we were able to see our marking sheets in Moodle as well as our grades because it let me see what I did well and what I didn’t do.  Most of the feedback was verbal on the day so the form didn’t have much written on it but the rubric was filled out.

While I like seeing the form it was really hard to fill out while outside, I had trouble seeing the screen on the I pad and had to keep shielding it so I could fill stuff in.  I also liked it being filmed but don’t think the I pad is the best choice to film it.  By the end of the day our I pad was full and we missed part of one of the scenarios.  Maybe we could use a camera or something and have someone else film it as well.

Conclusion

I liked the way in which the OSCEs were run and felt I learned heaps by doing them.  The tutor was great and very supportive.  I would like to have more experiences like this one in our degree.