Students brush up on basic clinical skill

Melissa Marohl hones her clinical skills by inserting an intravenous needle into the hand of a voluntary patient during June Term last week.

Melissa Marohl inserted the intravenous needle into the patient’s hand, slowly, steadily and cautiously.

Then, she tried again.

Thanks to her classmates and a volunteer nurse, on whom she practiced, Marohl breathed easier Friday after her fourth attempt drew rave reviews.

“These are skills we need, but starting an IV was challenging for me,” said the Grand Island native, who found the skill more difficult than inserting a nasogastric tube.

Using a simulator, Ryan Hamlin of Omaha practices inserting a needle for a lumbar puncture procedure.

UNMC medical students spent three days last week learning, or brushing up on, the various basic clinical skills they’ll need during their clinical rotations, which begin this month. The hands-on instructional course, known as June Term, is an annual requirement for rising third-year medical students.

“This is a time when students have to learn, but they are not driven by an examination,” said Kurtis Cornish, Ph.D., a professor of cellular and integrative physiology who has coordinated June Term since 1998. “Their drive is because they know they’ll soon have to use these skills during clinical rotations. That makes them highly motivated and fun to teach.”

Divided into groups, the students attend 13 mini-classes that allow them to practice such basic clinical procedures as starting intravenous lines, inserting nasogastric (NG) tubes, doing lumbar punctures, giving injections, reading electrocardiograms and testing for arterial blood gases.

Tiffany Tanner of Omaha practices suturing on a pig’s foot.

Down the hall Friday from Marohl was Tiffany Tanner of Omaha, who practiced suturing on a pig’s foot. “The hardest part is getting the rhythm down and getting use to the feel of going through skin,” she said, pulling the black string through the pink, taut skin.

Dr. Cornish praised the numerous faculty members, volunteer nurses and fourth-year medical students who assist with June Term.

The course also included hospital tours, instruction on how to give an ophthalmology exam, aseptic techniques, urinary catheters, infomatics, tracheal suctioning and infection control.