Kansas Children attend NTC's Scratch Patch Hospital

By Gary Dotterer
North East Technology Center

The scene resembled a typical hospital: patients waiting to be admitted: technicians drawing blood and taking x-rays; nurses assisting patients with pre-op and post-op procedures; surgeries being performed and bills being paid. Was this a new facility in southern Delaware County? Actually, it was two classrooms and a lab area at Northeast Technology Center's Kansas Campus transformed into the mythical Scratch Patch Hospital -- a simulation designed to acclimate children to the procedures that go on in any given hospital.

The simulation was a joint venture between the Practical Nursing, Health Careers Certification, Business Management /Administration programs on campus, and Mrs. Poteet's second grade class at Kansas Elementary School

Nine stations were to be established: a waiting room; admissions and vital signs; lab; x-ray; EKG; pre-op; surgery; post-op; and bill paying. The tech students who were to be involved in a health care capacity were instructed to play their roles with all seriousness, explaining to the children what they were doing and why, and taking care of them as if they were real patients.

The Scratch Patch Hospital began when the children arrived and were seated in a waiting room. A tech student was assigned to each student to be their parent. Students were called one by one and had to go into the admissions office where they presented their insurance card and their paperwork. They were given a wrist band ID and their vital signs were taken. Next, the student went to the lab for "blood work." The technician explained what would happen, how it would feel, and why it was done. A cotton ball secured to their arm with a piece of tape added to the realism.

The student next went to the x-ray station where their injury was examined. A cardboard box with a hole cut out in one end served as the x-ray unit, and the student was presented with an actural x-ray to carry around with them. At the EKG station, leads were attached to their outer grments and a simulated heart rhythm print-out was given to them. They next went to pre-op where they were gowned, given a hair net, and had a pretend IV started, complete with tubing and tape.

From there they were wheelchaired to surgery where four students in complete surgical garb awaited them. Once the student was helped onto the table, a technician administered the anesthesia and, while the patient was "asleep", the remaining three surgeons set their broken bone, repaired their head injury or removed their appendix and bandadaged the area. From there, they were wheeled to post-op where they were awakened, given something to drink and had their IV removed. The last stop was the office where they paid their bill using play money.

"The children who went through this simulation really got into the role of patient," said Gary Fox, director of marketing and communications for Northeast Tech. "In surgery, when the pretend anesthesia was applied, most of them pretended to go to sleep and stayed that way until they were awakened and taken to post-op. I think they all enjoyed it immensely."

The students went back to their school clutching some souvenirs as well as their lab results, their EKG, their x-ray, a copy of their bill, their hair net and gown, assorted bandages, and whatever play money change they had left over.

"This is a community service project designed to help take the fear out of the children to let them know exactly what happens to people when they go into the hospital for surgery," said Stacee Gillespie. "And it was good experience for our students. They got to see what it would be like dealing with young children."