Watching a video or reading instructions can be helpful when learning a new skill, but there’s nothing quite like using your hands to practice it yourself, especially in nursing. That’s what attendees will experience when they visit the hands-on learning sessions at Emergency Nursing 2026.
The cadaver lab enables attendees to better see and understand human anatomy within the context of their clinical interventions.
In the cadaver lab, attendees will get a chance to better see and understand human anatomy within the context of their clinical interventions, as well as learn and perform skills like advanced airway management and bleeding control. They’ll also delve into vascular access, including point-of-care decision making and practicing low-frequency, high-acuity skills such as intraosseous access.
“At the end of the lab, our attendees have the opportunity to walk around and look at the anatomy of all the different cadavers and practice the skills they’ve learned in the lab on different body types and different patients, just like they would experience in their work environment, and learn from all the instructors that are in the room,” said Teleflex’s Senior Manager of Medical Affairs Amy Mills, BSN, RN, who manages the cadaver lab.
Vascular access is also the focus of the ultrasound lab, where attendees will practice using ultrasound tools for both assessment and practical, hands-on needle placement. During the assessment portion, attendees practice on each other a “back to basics” anatomy lesson on identifying veins, arteries and nerves at common IV access sites. Later, attendees will put those skills into action by using the ultrasound to guide a needle into simulated tissue and vasculature.
Keegan Mahoney, BS, RRT, VA-BC
“We really believe in no blind sticks, especially for our difficult vascular access patients. This is a skill set that should be in your bag of tricks when you’re an emergency nurse,” said Teleflex Director of Clinical and Medical Affairs in Vascular Emergency Medicine Keegan Mahoney, BS, RRT, VA-BC, who manages the ultrasound lab. “Having that ability to do it in a safe space, with peers, having opportunities to ask questions and get that coaching is a huge benefit.”
For fun, collaborative, high-energy hands-on learning experiences, attendees should head to the Sharpen Your Skills area in the Experience Hall. There they’ll find a full, live model station from Teleflex that’s new this year, where attendees will have the opportunity to identify and landmark sites for intraosseous access on a live volunteer with help and guidance from an expert in the field.
“It’s all about increasing that confidence level on a procedure that clinicians don’t do very often,” said Mills. “The more they practice that on actual tissue, on an actual patient, the higher their confidence will be.”
At the Sharpen Your Skills area, attendees will get the chance to brush up on clinical skills, such as airway management.
At another station, attendees will get to practice hands-on intraosseous access on simulated models, including new ones for pediatric distal femur intraosseous insertion, enabling nurses to practice critical skills for less frequent scenarios.
“If you had the opportunity to insert in that location, when a child comes in front of you, you’ve already got that muscle memory,” Mills said.
Mills and Mahoney both said attending hands-on sessions not only provides collaborative learning and a chance to learn or practice new skills, but allows attendees to build the confidence they’ll need when they’re faced with real-life scenarios.
“The more you can have repetition with procedures, the more confident you are,” Mills said. “The type of muscle memory that you get from hands-on practice can never be duplicated.”