Classroom transformed into mock operating room

HOUSTON — “I liked drawing blood from the veins, it was very realistic,” Jenny, an eighth-grade Houston Medical School Biomedical STEM student stated when asked, what was her favorite part of the mock operating room experience.

Danny said, “I enjoyed how hands-on everything was.”

Super excited, Jay said, “I got to keep the femur bone!”

My Houston Middle School 8th grade STEM classroom was literally and figuratively buzzing. Six staff members from Mat-Su Regional Medical Center transformed the STEM classroom into a mock operating room.

With four medical rotation stations draped in blue surgical cloth, the sound of a surgical bone saw blended with the excited chatter of students dressed in blue scrubs, masks, hats and gloves. Students donned the scrubs to further simulate the necessary sterile and medical environment of an operating room.

Explaining the surgical processes and demonstrating them for the students, Mat-Su Regional staff members engaged the students with relevant questions and provided professional medical responses to their many questions.

Realistic operating room procedures were set up through the hands-on stations. Two arm and leg bone fracture repair stations were coupled with an intubation procedure table, equipped with the necessary tubes, bags and a practice mannequin. At other stations were an IV (intravenous) start with practice hands, needles and an IV stand, and an IO (intraosseous) start, that included raw eggs and a drill.

Other procedures helped students see first-hand the delicate nature of the medical processes. Inserting a tube into the throat of a patient and then following up with adult mask ventilation made Max exclaim, “Intubating was cool, to see the tubes that go to your lungs and your stomach!”

After practicing cutting leg and arm bones, Lain explained, “Cutting a bone in half and then fixing it with a plate and screw was amazing!” Simulating repairing the fractures demonstrated the difficulty and importance of drilling straight holes and inserting small screws through the plate holes and into the bone. Cambrie’s favorite part was sawing the bone in half.

“Bonetastic!” was all Aurora could say.

Other stations included the IV station where students experienced a realistic simulation of drawing blood as well as inserting an IV on a practice hand. “I liked finding the vein, and drawing the blood out, but I don’t like needles,” Pearson shared after a successful attempt at inserting a needle into a vein.

Lexi, said “I liked using the IV because it actually had the blood come through the needle.” At the IO (intraosseous) station, students used a drill to carefully penetrate a raw egg, simulating the process of going into the tibia by the knee bone for children who have difficult to-reach veins. Chris, shared, “Practicing drilling the egg was difficult because it was so fragile.”

At the end of the hour, Tristan said, “It was awesome to see how to use all the equipment.”

As teacher, my goal was to expose the Biomedical STEM students to health care related fields. I wanted them to have a hands-on experience, and be exposed to scenarios and medical situations that occur right here in our own community.

This was an amazing opportunity for our students, and hopefully many of them realize that it is never too early to start thinking about future goals. I am sincerely grateful to the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center Operating Room staff for taking the time to share their professional medical expertise. They provided such a realistic simulation, and patiently worked with each class.

At the end of class simulation, Mat- Su Regional staff gave all the participating 8th grade students tangible evidence of their day in a mock operating room — my students were ecstatic to learn they were allowed to keep the bones and the surgical gowns. Every student received a blue bag with a few gifts added to it to share with their families the events of their day as an operating room staff member.

Barbara Smith is a STEM teacher at Houston Middle School.