Fandom High School

Buckle up, kids. Dr. McCoy had a gross one today.

The Danger Shop was well-lit and had some flat surfaces. Inactive blank-eyed practice people sat at each one.
"Today's stitches. You'll be actually stitching up an arm wound, so the faint of heart beware. Though I don't think you'd still be in this class if you didn't have the stomach."

He used one of the practice people himself to demonstrate. They had a cut on the back of their arm. He showed the class how to clean it, and how to insert a needle into the subdermal layer, maneuvering it back out to the other side as a holding stitch. After going across the wound, he showed them how to create diagonal stitches zigzagging back across, and then how to tie it off.

"Cleaning it out is the most important part--use disinfectant, if available in a med kit, and never seal a foreign object under the skin. Partner up, give each other a hand. All your patients should be programmed to have similar wounds, so it will look a lot like what I just did. Steady hands are key."

There was a sign on the classroom door that simply read "Out sick. Stay safe."

Something was vigorously scribbled out just above it, and if someone looked carefully, they could see that McCoy had initially written "Gone fishing."

McCoy trying to be funny was an ongoing struggle.

[OOC: Sorry y'all, I'm mildly ill and didn't prepare last night like I should have.]

Class met in the Danger Shop today. It was set up to look like a forest. McCoy was chewing on a stalk of grass when the class came in. What a Georgian loser.

"Aren't you glad to get a break from the cold?" It was autumn in the fake moddable forest. Good time for a harvest.

"You might find yourself without food or water for a time. You're going to need to gather, in that case." He handed out a hand-waved sheet listing several edible roots, berries, and leaves.

"The good news is, even if you find something rotten, grubs are a good source of protein. I'm well aware your gag reflex might react, but they can keep you going when you need it most. If you find something fresh and have the time, cook it. Some things are poisonous only when raw. You'll lose some of the water, though."

Also some of the ick. Had anyone ever had raw beets? Yuck.

"Break up into pairs and find at least one source of fresh water, and one meal. You eat some grubs, you get fruit snacks at the end. Anyone touches the nightlock, they get an F." The nightlock stand-in was not actually deadly, but letting them think it was would keep them on their toes.

Today class was in the Danger Shop, though McCoy was using it mostly for the adequate floor space. The floor was peppered with CPR practice manikins, each separated by a few feet. He waited until his students filed in, and then began.

"You all probably could have predicted we'd do CPR, even if it hadn't been in the course description. You'll have to forgive a man a little predictability." Wouldn't it be nice if the world were just a bit more predictable in general?

McCoy continued, "CPR stands for cardiopulmonary resuscitation. It's to be used to slow tissue death in the brain by providing a bit of air and circulation when breathing has stopped or is coming in few gasps. As with most things in this course, it is human-centric. Some aliens aren't going to have a comparable process. Some are hardy enough that you can shove their hand in their chest and massage the heart manually. Not recommended." Not that he'd done it himself, but he'd certainly seen it done. Bit alarming, even for a surgeon.

"CPR is sort of a last resort--without it, the patient won't have oxygen getting to the brain and will without a doubt die. CPR isn't incredibly effective, but in a few cases it can allow the body time to snap back. It can also keep someone's brain from dying for a bit until advanced medical help can get there. The latter is the better case, but this is Emergency Medical Situations. You're not always going to have that chance to get to a defibrillator or a respirator or any medical equipment. You may be their only hope to restore circulation."

McCoy got down himself next to a manikin. "I'm going to do a slow demonstration of the process and talk you through it. Pay close attention, because you're going to team up with a partner and assess one another. Each of you will take a turn with the manikin and the other will watch and critique." He did the demonstration talking them through each step slowly. And there were a lot of steps. And a lot of potential disasters.

"Anyone who isn't able to do the resuscitation on their own for whatever reason, your job is no less important." He didn't look at Jeff, but he also didn't not look at Jeff. "You still need to know this. Assume your partner's an untrained bystander, and walk them through the process as your proxy deliberately, carefully, and calmly. Just because you can't get in there and do it yourself doesn't mean you might not save a life. We'll be revisiting CPR later, so don't worry if you're not perfect now. Make sure you work out the kinks with a fake person, first, before you have to use it for real. Any questions at all, you feel free to ask for a demo again. And Mercy's volunteered to be the TA, thanks Mercy if she's here, so that position's been filled."

[There's more detailed videos here at this link if you want more info, but I didn't want to "assign" too much to watch!]