On June 29th and 30th, the UNC Hillsborough Hospital (HBH) Emergency Department (ED) staff treated their first patient. “Disaster Patient, Premier” presented to the ED with Orange County Emergency Services following a motor vehicle collision. He was in severe shock: his heart rate had slowed, blood pressure had dropped, and the oxygen content in his blood was dangerously low. He was greeted in bay ten by his multidisciplinary team who to functioned for the first time in the new environment to stabilize him and handover care to the Carolina AirCare team for transport to “The Hill (UNC Hospitals, Main Campus).”
This scenario served as a capstone to a day organized by Kelly Revels RN, MSN, CEN. Mrs Revels is the Clinical Nurse Education Specialist for UNC Emergency Services and TeamSTEPPS Master Trainer. The two day event brought the team together and prepare them for what the future holds in Hillsborough.
The team received an overview of the expectations for this new service by Jeff Strickler, DHA, RN, CEN who serves as the Associate Vice President of HBH. This was followed up by a tour of the HBH ED by the Emergency Department Nurse Manager, Mrs. Suzy O’Leary. The team then oriented to various equipment, policies, and procedures that will impact their patient care.
These sessions were followed-up with an integrated team activity aimed at improving the teams ability to apply TeamSTEPPS principles to their care. Additional goals for this session were to improve operational efficiency within the ED as well as identify and improve systems concerns prior to opening. This session was lead by TeamSTEPPS Master Trainers Alberto Bonifacio and Gene Hobbs. They were also joined by TeamSTEPPS Master Trainer Neal Ryan on the first day.
Mr. Bonifacio organized the team and briefed participants prior to the beginning. The session utilized a Laerdal SimMan 3G, borrowed from Laerdal for this activity, was operated by Gene Hobbs. Following the simulation the debriefing focused primarily on communication and needs of the team as they worked in this unfamiliar environment.
Special thanks to Orange County Emergency Services for jumping in to help us find ways to better integrate our systems.
Mr Bonifacio, RN, BSN, MHA, CEN is the Trauma Outreach Coordinator, Trauma Nurse Educator and Mid Carolina RAC Coordinator for the UNC Trauma Program and a member of the Children’s and Women’s Hospitals Simulation Committee. Mr Hobbs is a Clinical Instructor in the Department of Pediatrics and Associate Director of Simulation for the UNC School of Medicine.