Hello, my name's Amanda Miller. I'm a lecturer with the ELSSA Centre, UTS.
In the following scene, I play a hospital patient who's waiting to have a gall
bladder operation.
My name is Jo Garcia, and I'm a UTS stude nt nurse. In the following scene, I'll
be roleplaying a clinical situation in which I'll be assessing a patient's cannula
site, and answering any questions she might have before she goes for her
surgery. Good morning! Hello, my name's Jo Garcia,
and I'm a UTS nursing student, and today I'm here working with your RN, Mary
Jones, to help get you ready for the operation. Um
-- you can call me Jo, but what would you like
me to call you today?
Oh, just call me Amanda.
OK, great Amanda --
um, now how are you feeling about your operation this
afternoon?
Oh, not too bad --
it's just a really long wait, all day.
Yes, it can be boring, waiting, but, um --
we'll see, I might be able to get you some magazines or something to help the time
pass a bit quicker.
OK.
Now, has someone come and explained to you that you can't eat or drink
anything this morning?
Oh, they said something like that this morning.
Yes, so from six o'clock this morning until your operation, you can't have
anything to eat or drink, unfortunately, but that's for safety with the
operation. Now, that's why the doctor has put this cannula in your arm
-- now
you look a little bit confused about that! Um
-- this is your cannula
Oh, right...
now, has someone explained to you what that is?
No, not really.
No, OK, well the way it works is it has a small tube that sits inside the vein in
your arm there, and it means that this fluid that's hanging here, um, can run
down through the tube and the n into your bloodstream, and that will keep
you hydrated so that you don't get dehydrated because you're not eating or
drinking today before the operation, yeah. Um, now I just need to assess the site , just
to check a few things --
has it been any pain at all?
No, only when they put the needle in, of course.
Yes, at first it can hurt, but um no pain once that stopped hurting?
Nothing else, no.
... and what I'm checking for is that there's no swelling, or heat, or irritation,
or pain along there, because that would suggest that
there's --
that you've got phlebitis, which is when the blood vessel
the vein the tube is sitting in is irritated by the tube, but that looks like
that's not the case --
and also, infiltration, which is when the little tube
is actually sitting not in your vein but in the tissue next to it and so the fluid
sort of swells up around the tiss... around the vein, instead of going into the
vein. But there's that doesn't look
like there's any complications at all
... which is good ...
which is great, so nothing to worry about, but do you have any other
concerns, or anything I can do to help?
Well, I'm still feeling a bit thirsty --
I was wondering if I --
I can't even have maybe a cup of tea, or something like that?
No, I'm sorry, I can't get you a cup of tea --
you can't have anything to eat or drink up until the operation, but if your
mouth is dry, I can get you a mouthwash, which might help to rinse your
mouth --
would you like that?
Oh, it's not too bad at the moment, maybe later.
OK. Well, if you change your mind and you'd like it, just let us know, because
that's no trouble. Have you got your buzzer?
Yes, it's over here.
OK, fantastic --
well, just give us a ring if we can do anything for you. Now I'm
just going to write in your notes that, um, I've assessed your cannula and that
it's working well and that there's no complications with it, and also then I'll
go and see if I can run up some magazines for you, or something, that will
help pass the time a bit quicker for you.
So will I see you later on?