Hi. I'm Meris, and in this video, we're going to be talking about
inpatient safety. We're going to talk about a lot of things: fires, equipment malfunctions,
chemical exposure, tornados, and bomb threats. Definitely a lot of information to know.
I will be following along with our Fundamentals of Nursing flashcards which are available on our
website, levelupRN.com. And if you are following along with me, I am starting on card number 37.
So let's get started. So first up, we're talking about
fire safety. I guarantee you this is stuff you have to know for your nursing exams, for NCLEX,
and even when you start working in the hospital. I 100% guarantee you you're going to take
training modules on this in your hospital. So it's good idea to get a good head start.
You'll see that on the card we have two acronyms. The first is RACE, and the second is PASS.
So RACE stands for-- the R is Rescue. Rescue anyone who is in immediate danger.
A is going to be Activate the Alarm. So you're going to pull the fire alarm.
C is going to be for Contain the Fire. So this is usually going to be done by closing doors,
especially fire doors, once everyone has been rescued from the other side of them.
And E is going to be for Extinguish. So that's where you're actually going to put out the fire.
So those are the steps of what to do in which order when you see a
fire or find out about a fire. Now you'll also see the PASS
sequence. The PASS sequence is, what do we do with the fire extinguisher?
Now working in fire and EMS for a long time, this is second nature to me, but when I was
learning, PASS is what I kept in my brain. So Pull the pin, Aim at the base of the fire,
Squeeze the lever, and Sweep side to side. That tells you how to use a fire extinguisher
to put out a fire. Make sure that you are aiming at the base of the fire
and not at the top of the flames. Very, very, very important to know.
Moving on to some other really important patient and patient safety things for you to know.
If you ever have faulty equipment-- which it happens. Things don't work sometimes.
It's very, very, very important for you to take it out of use immediately, right?
So I'm not going to keep using the fault IV pump, for instance. I'm going to take
it out of use. And the most important thing I want you to think of is putting a tag on it.
I'm going to tag that item per facility policy to say, "Hey, this doesn't work,"
so that nobody else tries to use it. Then you're going to follow your facility
policy on who to report it to. Maybe there's a special room to put it in.
But we really want to make sure that no other medical providers or professionals are using that
equipment not knowing that it's malfunctioning. Up next, we have chemical exposure.
This again is going to be based on the type of chemical, so you're going to want to be
familiar with what you might be encountering. But dry chemicals you should brush them
off of yourself immediately. Then we are going to have you
strip completely. Take off all of your clothes because the clothes can hold onto that chemical.
Then you're going to flush the skin with water. Typically, a hospital has
a place to go, a hazmat decontamination shower. And you're also going to want to look at the MSDS,
materials safety data sheets, to tell you what to do about this particular chemical.
What I should do if I'm exposed to hydrochloric acid may be very different than what I should do
if I am exposed to acetic acid. Right? So you're going to want to look at the MSDS sheets.
Alright. Let's talk about tornados. This one I think is so interesting because I'd
never considered it before I was in nursing school, but what do you do if you're at the
hospital and there's a tornado outside? So one of the first things that you should
do is avoid windows. So this means we're going to move in towards the center of the building.
This might be in a hallway, or this might be in a windowless room, maybe a bathroom.
And if your patients cannot be moved - maybe they're very
unstable, critical patients - we're going to place a blanket over them for protection so that,
should the windows shatter, at least they are covered and won't be cut or injured in that way.
And then lastly, let's talk about bomb threats. Bomb threats are something we
hope we never encounter, but if we do, very important to know what to do about them.
If somebody calls and makes a bomb threat, it is very important to keep them on the
line for as long as possible. You want to keep them talking.
And even if they hang up, you don't hang up. When they are talking, you should also be
writing down everything you can think of. What do they sound like? Is their
voice high pitched or low pitched? Do they have a speech impediment?
Do they have an accent? Do they sound nervous?
All of those sorts of things. And you want to write it down because you're going to forget.
And you may want to write down also exact wording of what was said.
So those are some things that are very important to know when it
comes to inpatient safety for you and your patients. I hope that was a helpful review.
If it was, please like this video and leave me a comment below. If there's
something that you use to help you remember this information, I would love to hear it.
In the next video, we're going to be talking about more inpatient safety, but we're going to
be talking about sharps injuries, body mechanics, and internal radiation or brachytherapy.
You will not want to miss this video. It is very important for your nursing exams.
So be sure to subscribe to the channel so that you can be the first to know when it's up.
Thanks so much, and happy studying! I invite you to subscribe to our channel and share
a link with your classmates and friends in nursing school. If you found value in this video, be sure
and hit the like button, and leave a comment and let us know what you found particularly helpful.