TEHACHAPI, Calif. -- Nearly 40 nurses that work in the Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District got a refresher course during the hospital’s annual Competency Skills Fair.

Throughout the week, the nurses have had the opportunity to brush up on their safety and medical skills as well as learn about new policies and procedures.

But the Competency Skills Fair isn’t just for the nurses but for the patients they treat on a daily basis.

Director of Staff Development Gayle Kuhar said, "We do these kind of quizzes and demonstrations with the staff so that they are able to do their job more effectively and more proficiently.”

The nurses were able to learn how to operate a fire extinguisher and what to do if an earthquake hit.

They also got hands on when it comes to sterilization, inserting IVs, determining wounds and even down to the most basic of washing their hands properly.

“In a hospital you are working with a lot of bacteria and the important thing for everyone in the hospital to know is that whatever they touch, going from one patient to another, they can be spreading germs,” said Kuhar.

The nurses also got a chance to learn about some of the new state of the art equipment recently added to the hospital.

Chief nursing officer Andrew Petty said, “It’s to update them on what’s new procedures, what our policy and procedures are throughout the hospital because they do change from time to time and we have to update them every year. So, it’s really to just keep everyone up to date and get them to play with some of the cool stuff we have here.”

Laura Pearsall, a nurse at Tehachapi Hospital said she enjoyed the skills fair because it gives her a chance to refresh on skills she may not use all the time.

“We don’t always get to use them, and I don’t work on the medical-surgery floor everyday. I do jump in and help when they need help but we don’t always get to use our skills, so it is nice that we get to practice our skills and refresh,” said Pearsall.

Nurses working at Tehachapi Hospital will get even more hands on training during the Tehachapi Community Emergency Response Team Disaster Drill taking place all day Saturday.