This is an essential skill for medical and nursing personnel in nearly all specialties.
Depending on how far along they are in their training, students learning this skill may already have some experience with scrubbing in. Or they may be starting from nothing.
I’ve found that among those students with some previous experience:
- Some of them have been taught incorrect information
- Some have significant gaps in their training
- I can usually make all of them better with this training.
I start with a brief video presentation that covers the most important topics.
Then, we practice putting on hat, mask, shoe covers, gown and gloves, using left-over supplies from our operating room or delivery room. Usually, we do this in the simulation lab, where we have scrub sinks (to practice scrubbing), and operating rooms. But sometimes, when the simulation lab is otherwise occupied, I’ve provided the same training in a conference room.
It is the content of the training, not the location, that matters most.
Following the training, I give each student a “Status Check”, a one-page written test covering the material they’ve just learned. Their score doesn’t count for their grade, but as they grade the test themselves, it solidifies some of the important points.