Anatomy Warehouse Hands-On Lab Episode 1: Venipuncture and IV Practice Arm Kit and Simulation Arm

Liz:

Hey, I'm Liz, the CEO at Anatomy Warehouse. We're starting a new webinar series where we're going to bring you into our world, which is all about curiosity.

I'm in our warehouse right now, which is full of anatomy models, healthcare simulators, dissection specimens, and charts. In fact, the frogs are back there, skeletons are behind me, and we've got bone parts and IV arms right here.

And while something new comes in almost every day, there's something that we are always focused on, which is to be the champions for hands-on learning.

So I'm really excited to start this webinar series. And like things that are new, we're going to experiment and learn along the way. We'll probably make some mistakes. I mean, live production is kind of like live healthcare. You've got to adapt to things as they come your way.

But I know for sure that with hands-on learning and practice, we're just going to get better. So let's go have some fun. Welcome to Anatomy Warehouse.

Picture this. The moment your students are about to do their first blood draw or IV insertion on a live patient. Their hands are shaking. The patient’s watching. And you're thinking about everything you've taught them, wondering how well this is going to go.

And then you see it. The student's training kicks in. That moment when all of their hard work has paid off shows up. The patient is smiling because the hard part's over. The blood’s been drawn. The sample’s been collected. And the student is smiling even more because they know all of their hard work has now come to fruition.

And then we remind ourselves of the purpose of hands-on education.

This is why curiosity and training matter. This is why you practice in the safety of a curiosity-centric environment, and you practice over and over with the right tools.

Practice makes you ready. It makes you steady. It makes you precise and confident.

Curiosity and training means there are no dumb questions. There's only possibility and potential.

This is exactly why we created the Hands-On Lab, this new monthly webinar series from Anatomy Warehouse, where we're going to spotlight products across anatomy, healthcare training, and more.

Every month, we're going to go beyond our website to create a space for curiosity, where we can interact with our customers, industry experts, and the whole Anatomy Warehouse team, and where we're going to explore products and training together.

So while we'll highlight specific products in each session, we're not here to tell you how to do this or that technique. We're just here to be curious together because our purpose as a company is to spark curiosity and ignite human potential.

We're here to inspire you to do the same with yourself, your students, and even your colleagues.

So today, we're going to dive into a product that is all about building hands-on IV and phlebotomy skills. Let's get curious and let's get started.

Joining me today is Mike Duda, our product manager, and he's going to walk us through the product, show you exactly how it works, and share how it's a great tool for a variety of learning levels and skills.

Hey Mike.

Mike:

Hey Liz. How are you doing?

Liz:

Good. Let’s have some fun.

Mike:

Absolutely. I'm excited to be here to showcase our Anatomy Lab Venipuncture and Phlebotomy Simulation Kit. This will boost learner confidence while performing a variety of different IV and phlebotomy tasks.

Liz:

Yeah. What I love about this product is that it comes with everything learners need to get started with realistic hands-on practice for all kinds of basic nursing skills. So hands on for hands-on learning.

A nurse once told me that practice doesn't make perfect. Practice makes permanent. I truly live by that advice now.

Mike:

I love that. That's a great phrase.

Liz:

Let’s take a look at what we've got in front of us here.

Mike:

Our talented art director, Anna Brooks, designed the box to be more than just a box. It's also a stand. We've added little instructions here to cut. You can insert a little hook here, and then you can hang your reservoir here.

And then the inside of the box also shows you if you've verified or if you've set up your arm the way it should be set up.

Liz:

That's a great tip. And again, shout out to Anna for the super thoughtful design.

We're actually able to achieve a bit of sustainability with the design on the new box because as Mike pointed out, it's not only a stand and a storage box for the product, but we no longer need to have an extra stand that adds plastic to the product. So a little bit of sustainability win there, which we love.

But yeah, enough about the super cool box. Let’s get into the exciting stuff.

So I’m going to kind of walk you guys through stuff, but I’m going to ask Mike to be my Vanna White today.

All right. When you open the box, you’re going to find first and foremost, the arm. And depending on which one you’ve ordered, you’ll either have a light or a medium skin tone option.

And then everything you need to get started. We’ve got syringes, butterfly needles, IV cannulas, tourniquets, artificial blood, the vacuum tubes to collect the blood, gloves, gauze, alcohol pads, tape, the fluid reservoir, a blood transfer device, and even a patient ID tag.

Because super important that when we’re doing this in the real world, we’re drawing the right person’s blood.

So it’s really everything you need. Ultimately that just gives you the ability to open the box and get right into the practice and hands-on learning process that we love so much.

And again, this one’s really going to focus on those IV and phlebotomy skills.

So none of us are medical experts here. So Mike, as product manager, can you show us how easy this thing is to set up?

Mike:

This is super easy to set up. There’s only a few things you have to connect to get started, and then you’re ready for your simulation.

So pretty much what you’re going to start with is your reservoir here. And you want to make sure all of your valves are open.

Then what you’re going to do is connect one of the tubes to the end of the reservoir tube. Make sure that’s all the way in.

And then you also want to make sure that all of these are open as well because you want to let the blood flow through.

Then I’m going to fill this up with our blood here.

Liz:

That’s not real blood, is it, Mike?

Mike:

It’s not real blood. This is actually a beet powder mixture.

Liz:

Oh, tasty.

Mike:

Actually, we don’t recommend drinking it.

Liz:

Don’t drink it.

Mike:

So I’m going to pour our blood in here.

Liz:

So as Mike mentioned, it’s super important that we not only have all of the clamps open, but pro tip, make sure you’ve got a collection device on the other end so that when the blood comes through, it’s actually going into a container and not all over your kitchen table, not into your rug, or anywhere that you really don’t want it.

Oh, looks like we have our first live snafu.

Mike:

Oh, there we go. There’s blood. There she goes. We got it.

We just had to clear out some air bubbles there because we use this. There’s a little bit of moisture inside. You might have some air bubbles, but you just got to squeeze it through.

As you can see here, you’ve got some blood coming out the other end. It’s very bubbly, so we’re going to keep letting it go until all those air bubbles go.

Liz:

Good advice, Mike.

Mike:

So once we’ve got a good stream, you want to close this clamp. Close that clamp when we’re full.

Liz:

Awesome.

One of my favorite things about this product is that we developed it in collaboration with a nursing educator. She was instrumental in getting this right from quality to functionality to the actual educational applications.

So I’m excited to bring in certified nurse educator Jillian Hay-Roe. She was kind enough to answer a few questions for us about the making of this product.

Jillian:

My name is Jillian, and I'm a registered nurse, and I worked with Anatomy Lab to help develop some of their simulation kits, including the venipuncture and IV practice arm and kit.

I started to consult with Anatomy Lab in 2018. In my first assignment, I compared a few different models of arm manikins and their included supplies. I gave Anatomy Lab a lot of feedback on the pros and cons of each different one.

Then Anatomy Lab continued to improve their models, and I reviewed a couple different versions.

I would also record myself using the arm and demonstrating how to actually perform venipuncture, how to perform an IV catheter, and how to actually set up the arm.

I gave a lot of different insight on what products would be important to include with the kit, which would be things like gloves, different size catheters, alcohol wipes, tourniquets, items to help draw labs for venipuncture, sharps containers.

Another thing that I did with Anatomy Lab was to help develop instruction manuals for the students.

I think the most important feature of the simulation models is that they help students develop muscle memory for IV insertion. To access a vein, you have to complete like 10 different steps all within two seconds.

Being able to repeat this sequence on a model helps improve your skill and your confidence when you go ahead and try to do it on a real person for the first time.

The artificial blood allows the student to confirm that they have successfully entered a vein.

There were times where students or myself would practice on pieces of cardboard just to practice separating the catheter from the needle. But of course you’re not going to see any blood flash, so it’s hard to know when the timing is right.

The other really important component of using a manikin arm is being able to find veins in the different anatomical positions on the arm. Instead of practicing on something flat, the arm is going to give the user much better experience on how to palpate a vein, how to position their hands, and where to place a tourniquet.

And the venipuncture arm is going to bleed out after you’ve got the catheter in, so the student is going to also have to practice occluding the vein just like you would do on a real person.

I have been a registered nurse for over 15 years, and I’ve worked in several different settings.

I first started in the NICU, and I would start IVs and draw venipuncture lab samples from tiny premature babies, so I really developed quite a fine skill set there.

I also worked in pre-op, where we had to start IVs every single day on multiple patients, and having a high volume of starting IVs definitely helps you get better at that skill.

I’ve also worked for a medical device company that makes one of the major, most common IV catheters used in the United States and worldwide, and in my position at that company, I was a product educator. I would go to hospitals all over the country that bought that company’s IV catheter and teach the nurses how to use it.

We would bring a small simulation model with us. It wasn’t a whole arm, it was just a venous pad, but it did have artificial blood so the nurses were able to train on a vein simulation and get the blood flashback.

Part of our education model was to have nurses do the needle stick multiple times, usually we’d say at least 10, to start developing the muscle memory.

Using each different brand of catheter, there is a different feel to it and a different method of how you’re going to insert and where you look for the flash.

Working for this company, I also became an expert on every single component of an IV catheter for our brand, as well as all the other brands available.

I also worked as a nursing student clinical instructor, teaching brand new nurses how to start IVs. If I had the opportunity, I would use a simulation arm.

I would bring in my Anatomy Lab model to use with students after clinicals to go over the steps in person with them. Then I would also be teaching them in the clinical setting on real patients, inserting their very first IV.

I used the Anatomy Lab IV arm to work with nursing students as part of their clinical training. We were able to review the steps to help them memorize the order they needed to complete each one.

We were also able to highlight aspects of safety and clean technique, like wearing gloves, cleaning the site, not palpating again over the site they’ve just cleaned, and disposing of the needle in the sharps container after they’re done.

I have also used a simulation arm when working at the perioperative center when we would do our mock code simulations.

Because it’s got this venous system, when you have a catheter in there, you can practice injecting medications into it. So we would use it in our mock code simulations to practice injecting emergency medications like epinephrine into the IV arm to make the simulation more interactive and more authentic.

The primary feedback you get with students is that this definitely feels different from a real person. There is no simulation arm or manikin or venous pad out there that is going to feel quite like the real thing, of course.

Veins in a real person, particularly on older people or children, are harder to find. They can be mobile. They can roll. They also have valves.

You have more challenges when you’re sticking a real person. Some people have very thick skin to penetrate with the needle.

Overall, though, I think pretty much every student sees the value in at least practicing on a model versus going straight to sticking a human with needles.

As a patient, I would be a little bit less hesitant to allow someone to practice on me knowing at least they’ve tried on a simulation manikin first.

In working with Anatomy Lab, a way that I’ve grown as a clinician is that it made me break down each and every single step involved when you perform a procedure.

Particularly when I was writing the instruction manuals, thinking how you have to stabilize a vein, insert and advance a needle tip while watching for a flash.

Doing all of these multiple steps in a matter of a second really proves the value in training on a model so you can do each of these steps till they become second nature.

So you’re able to complete it on a person in real time because these need to be done very quickly or you could have clotting, bleeding out, miss the vein, bruising, a lot of complications can happen.

That’s why it’s really beneficial to practice on the model first.

And I think learning how to break down every procedure that you're training a new clinician to, each individual step, to realize why it’s so difficult, is something I gained from working with Anatomy Lab and I can apply that to a lot of other procedures as well.

Liz:

Thanks so much Jillian. It’s been a pleasure working with you and we can’t say thank you enough for how grateful we are that you were willing to be part of the development of this product.

It’s also really cool to hear how you and your students have benefited from this product and we look forward to continuing to collaborate with you on future product designs.

Now let’s take you through our newest skill addition with our arm and that’s collecting blood samples for further analysis. This is a fun one to add and it’s something that I think we’re all familiar with.

If you’ve ever had your blood drawn you probably recognize these collection tubes, and so Mike’s going to walk us through the way that the arm is able to deliver blood directly into one of the collection sample tubes.

Mike:

So we have the butterfly needle already inserted and we’ve got our blood transfer device here.

Now I’m going to grab the vacuette here and push, and as you can see, blood is filling the tube.

Liz:

Nice. I mean I know I’ve always wondered if I’ve had enough water before they take my blood. I also kind of like to watch it when they draw the blood.

Mike:

I kind of like to watch it too, but it’s more for is my blood moving fast enough to fill these tubes because it feels like forever.

Liz:

But I love that juice box at the end. Are you an apple juice or cranberry juice guy?

Mike:

Apple, 100 percent.

Liz:

I couldn’t agree more. Although cranberry can be fun too.

I’ve just got one more tube here. Have you ever fainted getting blood?

Mike:

I have not, but it might be because I’m also thinking about the cookies afterwards.

Liz:

I’ve definitely fainted. They were like crash cart immediately. Wow. Yeah but I survived.

Mike:

And I bet those people practice for that.

Liz:

So we’ve got our blood tubes ready. Let’s send these babies off to the lab.

All right. So to recap, this kit fits into multiple training environments with a couple of really key advantages.

First it’s going to last through repeated use and we were really focused on making sure that this product was built to last.

Next it cleans up super quickly between sessions and the instruction manual walks you through how to do that.

Lastly it adapts to a lot of different procedures with very little downtime. So again you’re just going to get a lot of bang for your buck in this particular IV arm kit.

So we’d like to open up our conversation to the audience. Drop any questions you have in the chat and we’ll answer as many as we can.

We did take a few in advance just so we didn’t have that awkward silence waiting for a question. We are live. I don’t think either of us could survive dead air in the space right now.

So cameraman Matt could you please hand us our first question. Thank you.

All right, question one. Is this easy enough for beginners to use or is it for advanced users only?

Mike:

This is easy for everybody to use, advanced or beginner.

I have no medical background. I was never taught how to do this and as product manager I have to make sure what we’re selling works and I test this all the time.

So it’s really great for beginners especially with our setup guide.

And I think it’s important for everybody to remember that experts aren’t born experts. We all have to start out as beginners.

So it’s not about perfection. It’s about that hands-on practice and I think that’s what we all love about this product and all the products we sell here.

Liz:

That was a great question. Definitely.

Cameraman Matt, question two please.

All right next up. Are there any accessories available for this kit, Mike?

Mike:

We do have accessories. We actually brought on three kits. So I’ll feature those right now. Vanna’s going to go get the extra kits for me.

When we designed this product we wanted to make sure out of the box it was super comprehensive and great. But we also wanted to think about modularity and other applications to really get the most out of this product.

So what we’ve got here is our supplemental phlebotomy kit, which is good for additional blood collection practice.

In addition to the blood collection tubes and accessories you’ve got here, you’ve also got additional collection tubes, additional transfer device types so you can learn in different clinical applications. Not every hospital does it the same.

Additional needles. Got more bandages and tourniquets in here. And then all the things to clean up at the end.

Always remembering to put away your sharps in a safe place which is why we have the included sharps container.

So that’s the supplemental phlebotomy kit.

And Mike can you grab me the next supplemental kit which is our IV insertion kit.

So what this one does is it levels up your IV insertion practice and particularly focusing on IV starts.

You’ve got your chloroprep start kits in here, saline flushes, additional types of catheters, some safety, some of the different gliding types.

And again more needles and options just to really give you a lot of different types of experiences working with IV starts.

Always remembering clean up and be safe at the end.

And last but not least, one of my personal favorites, this is our parenteral medication kit, where you’re going to be able to learn about medication identification, dosing, and intravenous delivery to do it safely.

And to do it safely you need to be able to understand what exactly is on a medicine label. Everything from the expiration date to the type of medication.

And this kit allows you to practice that sort of stuff and gives you confidence in knowing that this is the right medication for the right patient.

We’re labeling it safely and again always cleaning up and being safe while we practice so we’re ready to go in the real world.

Liz:

And how else do you practice with ampules without actually breaking them? That would be terrifying to have to do that in real life.

Mike:

Right. Absolutely. There are also the safety breaks in here because safety first.

Liz:

Safety first.

The last thing that we have as a kit is a replacement part kit. So you can get that online in both skin tones. You’d get the skin and veins. That’ll keep your arm going for a long, long time.

Do we have any live questions?

Looks like we may not have time for those today but we really appreciate all the great questions you guys have asked us.

Oh wait we do have a last minute question. Wonderful. Thank you audience.

Cool. All right question three. What else would you recommend for beginners, Mike?

Mike:

Well Anatomy Warehouse has all sorts of products. Beginner anatomy models, but you can even get your high fidelity simulation manikins as well.

So it’s really about what you are looking for in your product.

But we’ve got a great concierge shopping service on our website. There’s a quick link in our menu bar and you can schedule some time with two of our sales reps Brittany, Lisa, or Alma, and they’ll work with you to find the product that works for you.

Liz:

Yeah we work really hard to make it easy for you guys to shop through all the thousands of products that we have. We know the overwhelming selection can be difficult to find what works for you and you can let us help you with that.

And definitely as Mike said go to the website, check out our concierge service, and shout out to Brittany, Lisa, and Alma who will be there to help you guys.

So I guess that’s going to do it for questions at this point. I appreciate everybody tuning in and as a reminder curiosity is one of Anatomy Warehouse’s core values.

So even if we didn’t get to your question today or if you just want to have a personalized demo where you go a bit deeper with this particular product, again reach out to us anytime. That’s why we’re here to help.

Mike:

So that wraps up our demonstration and Q&A. I’ll be signing off but Liz here will tell you about our next webinar and it was a pleasure to be with all of you.

Liz:

Thanks Mike. I hope you had fun.

All right again I want to say thank you to everybody who tuned in. I also want to give a shout out to our team here. A lot of people put a lot of work into getting this show started.

The studio space came together in a matter of weeks.

Cameraman Matt, you’ve been great back there.

And again just want to say thank you to everybody who tuned in for episode one of the Hands-On Lab. Personally this was a lot of fun, but I’m curious, how did you on the other end of that camera feel about the session?

Feedback is a major part of our culture here so don’t be shy about sharing your thoughts. We’re here for it all.

And I’ll add, I really love this product. We spent a ton of time developing this training kit and it’s a big source of pride to know that we’re helping give learners a safe repeatable way to master one of the most essential clinical skills.

It’s great to know that we’re playing a part in workforce development by supporting students with the kind of hands-on training and accessibility they need to become a phlebotomist, a nurse, or any of the number of healthcare professionals that we really need.

So if you’re ready to get started with your hands-on training, now is the time. Reach out to anatomywarehouse.com or contact our team and we can help you choose the right kit for your program.

We can even customize this kit and many of our other kits to include almost any type of training supply you can think of, including more of those really fun simulated medications we saw earlier.

So real quick before we go, I want to remind everybody to sign up for our next webinar session that’s coming up in September.

In episode two we’re going to explore the NASCO Healthcare AlexGenAI, one of the most advanced patient simulators available today.

We’re going to be joined by Melissa Dummer, my personal favorite person at Nasco Healthcare, who’s going to help show us how AlexGenAI adapts in real time to learner decisions and transforms the way clinical training is being delivered.

You’re not going to want to miss it, but until next time stay curious because when we’re curious, anything is possible.