Obstacle Course (Hospital Style!)

It's been a busy couple of weeks. I'm now in critical care. It's one of those funny things; all at once I'm surprised about  how much I know and how little I know all at the same time. The learning curve is a steep one but I've always liked rollercosters.

People, poles, machines, tubes, and lines oh my!

Let me begin by saying I am going to try and amend the Resp Therapy curriculum by requesting a new course be added: Hospital Obstacle Course Training. As most of you know, I am not very aware of my body in relations to my surroundings. (Ok ok I'm klutz). I just seem to move faster than my own thought process, and my grasp on the ever important concept of "inanimate object don't move" is lacking. Trying to navigate my body around a bedside in critical care is no easy feat. There are people, machines, lines, pole, tubes, bags, medication and cords; coming off the wall, hanging form the ceiling, suspended from poles, coming off the patient, emerging from the wall; everywhere. Connecting a tube to the wall usually involves squeezing one's self between a bed, the wall, some machines, being entangled in lines, all while trying to not rip out, knock over, pull, or move anything. I swear just having to be that aware of my body is exhausting.

Could you please plug in the O2 flow meter for me?

The worst part of it all is I get what I have named the "rebound affect". After 12h of being hyper aware of my body in relation to my environment,  I'm banjaxed. My klutziness goes off the charts, it's like the part of my brain that deals with proprioception decides it's done for the rest of the day. I take corners to sharp, walk into doors, fall down steps, it's a bit ridiculous and I have the bruises to prove it. So I've decided we need add a PE course to the resp curriculum, to prepare future klutzy RT students of the perils of having to navigate around a critical care bedside: Hospital Obstacle Course. You could set up a mock bed side and have to navigate various set ups, in a certain amount of time without moving, pulling out or getting tangled in lines and tubes. It's ingenious just think about it! :)