The Healthcare Support Services Program

Healthcare Class:What I learned about

healthcare• Medical Terminology• Anatomy & Physiology- Nervous System, Skeletal System, Immune System, etc.

• How to take an individuals Vital Signs- Blood pressure, Pulse, Temperature, etc.

• Infectious Diseases• Infection Control

Certifications and Training earned in the

program:• Infection Control• Waste Management• Medical Terminology• Safe Body Mechanics• WHMIS training• Workplace Violence

training• N95 Mask Fit Testing• Medical Ethics and

Confidentiality

Medical Terminology I learned in the program and at my placements:• Abbreviations

Examples:

NPO = Nothing by Mouth

ER = Emergency Room

SDS = Same Day Surgery

• Prefixes, Suffixes and Root WordsExample:

Craniotomy can be broken down into Crani / otomy

Crani = Pertaining to the skull

otomy = cutting into

Therefore Craniotomy = cutting into the skull

What is Infection Control?• The ability to control the

spread on infection • This can be done by

breaking the chain of infection at any of the links

Ways to break the chain of infection are:

- Hand washing- Taking the prescribed

antibiotics till the bottle is finished

- Properly cleaning patient room- Isolating patients with

infectious diseases

Field Trips We Took:• Ontario Science Center

- Body Worlds

• Willow Grove Retirement Home

• General Hospital Rehabilitation Center

• Eastmount Chiropractic and Wellness Center

• McMaster University- Health Research under the

Microscope

• Mohawk Hospital Services

- Where the Hospital Linen is cleaned

Skills We Learned in Class:

• Clean a wound• Transfer a patient to a

chair or commode using a mechanical lift

• Transfer a patient to a stretcher using a roll board

• Take a patients vital signs (blood pressure, pulse, temperature, etc.)

Healthcare Careers that I have learned about:

• Respiratory Therapist - Care for patient with breathing or cardiopulmonary

disorders- Responsible for all respiratory care treatments and

diagnostic procedures

• Anaesthesiologist - Care of medicine that is used to relief a patients pain - Take total care of patients before, during and after the

surgery has been performed

Working in a hospital

Environmental Aides• Deliver water and meal trays to patients• Stock blood and linen carts• Clean patients rooms control infection- Blue cloth for Bedrooms, Orange Cloth for Bathrooms

• Terminal Cleans• Making hospital beds

General Portering• Bring patients for the ward their on to MRI, Ultrasound, X-ray, etc.• Pick a patient up from MRI and bring them back to the ward their on• Pick up blood from a ward and bring it to Lab Core or Trans. Med.• Take plasma and blood from Trans. Med. up to the specified ward

Operating Room Portering• Bring contaminated surgical equipments down to the Central

Processing Department (Decontamination) to be cleaned• Pick up sterilized equipment from Central Processing Department

(Dispatch) and bring to OR• Stock green scrubs in the scrubs dispensing machines

My Placements

McMaster Hospital – Ward 3Y – Medical

• Environmental Aide

Henderson Hospital – Portering

• General and OR Portering

General Hospital – Emergency Room

• Environmental Aide

Hospital Experiences• Met tons of interesting people• Watch an Intravenous being put in so the

patient could get the vitamin they required• Saw a total knee and hip surgery taking place

in the OR• Watch the beginning on a stem cell transplant

People I have met

• Judy who is an environmental aide and has worked in the hospital for many years

• Lots of doctors, nurses, environmental aides, porters, and many more

What I have learned

• How to properly clean a patients room• How to properly don and remove personal

protective equipment (gown, mask and gloves when entering isolation rooms.)

• You have to speak loudly and clearly when speaking to patients that are hard of hearing

• If I have the ability to work in a hospital setting

Most important skills required for work at this

placement• Reliable• Hardworking • Independent• Good time management skills

Skills that I could transfer to other work environments• Proper body mechanics

• How to interact with people of all ages

• Importance of washing your hands

• How to properly manage your time so everything that needs to get done gets done

Specific tasks that I completed at my

placement that I learned from class• Roll board transfers

• Medical terminology

• Cleaning Techniques (Blue cloth for bedroom and

orange cloth for bathroom)

• Infection Control • Waste Management ( how to properly dispose of

different waste. Example: Tissue, organs and body parts not including teeth, hair and nail would be put in Biomedical: Human Anatomical Waste)

Most significant part of my co-op placement was:• Know that nursing is

the job for me!• I’m capable of

interacting with patients and staff

• I can handle the site of blood

• I’m capable of working hard to help others

The thing that affected me the most at my

placement was

• The people affected me the most• They can tell you first hand what its like in the

hospital for them (pros and cons)

• Give you advice for the future

I would recommend this program to other students because:

• Excellent opportunity to experience the medical field• See if your meant for a career in healthcare• Prepares you for a career in healthcare• Learn about other healthcare careers other than a

doctor or nurse