Simulated Medication Provides Effective Medical Training
Physicians, nurses and emergency responders work quickly in emergency situations to determine what is wrong with a patient and what needs to be done to help them. Many times this requires the administration of a medication.
It is imperative that the proper medication be administered in the correct dose. There have been too many instances of patients receiving too little or too much medication- or even worse the wrong medication, all of which can lead to disastrous results. In November 2007, the twin babies of actor Dennis Quaid received 1000 times the dose of heparin, a blood thinning medication, than they should have. Fortunately, the mistake did not result in the death of either infant, but it is reported that both experienced bleeding and required additional care.
Drug manufacturers have responded to issues such as what happened with the Quaid twins by changing the labels of different concentrations of heparin and placing large red warnings on the label of the vials. Hospitals have responded by providing for more automation of drug dispensing and reviewing and revising policies that are supposed to insure that mistakes do not occur.
A vital component of preventing medication errors must occur well before a medical professional sees patients – TRAINING. While all medical professionals receive training about medications and how to administer them, many times this training is performed with expired or re-labeled drug containers, or is just explained verbally, “I will administer 1 mg of epinephrine 1:1000, subcutaneously.”
When a medical professional has made a determination as to the proper drug to administer to a patient, they must then acquire the proper drug, in the proper concentration. It is important that medical professionals examine the label of the drug container to ascertain that it is the correct drug in the correct concentration, and that it is not expired. It is also important that they examine the drug itself to be sure that it is not discolored or contain contaminants such as crystals.
The most effective way to train medical professionals in medication administration is repetition. The more times they have to find the correct medication, read its label and examine the contents, the more they develop the habit to perform these critical tasks. The more ingrained the habit becomes; the more likely they are to perform it properly during an emergency. The goal of effective training in a skill such as this is to insure that it becomes an automatic process that will occur every time a procedure takes place.
As a medical training professional, my husband searched for an effective teaching tool that could be used to develop this critical process in paramedic students. Most educational programs rely on using expired medications, which is not legal in many areas, and which does not allow for the proper development of the habit of rejecting expired or adulterated medication. Others use “fresh” drugs which becomes quite expensive. Both expired drugs and “fresh” drugs introduce safety issues into medication administration training. A manikin filled with drugs can pose a great hazard to students if the “soup” of drugs leaks out.
After searching extensively for a safe, legal and effective means to teach this important skill, my husband was sorely frustrated due to the lack of an appropriate training aid. After listening to him complain time after time, I finally asked him why we couldn’t produce what he needed!
Months of research later, PharmProps, LLC was formed, offering extremely realistic simulated medication products that provide all of the necessary elements required for safe, effective medication administration training. As the picture shows, the simulated medications are quite realistic, but easily identifiable as training simulations due to the brightly colored labels and the inclusion of the “Training Use Only” and “Not For Human Use – Contains No Medication” tags. All of PharmProps products contain only water, for safety purposes.
Finally there is a product that will allow educators and trainers to address the medication administration training needs of medical professionals in a safe, legal and effective manner.
About the Author
Barb is the founder and controlling member of PharmProps, LLC., the only company focusing on providing realistic simulated medications geared to EMS training.
Barb is a former EMT and has worked in the medical field in various capacities.
Robertson county EMS Medic 1 & Superrvisor unit
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