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Campus Review
January 28, 2013
Nursing’s Simulation Center –
Transforming Nursing Education
by Dr. Susan Walsh, School of Nursing
“Code Blue! Code Blue!” Students jump
into action in the patient’s room, assess
the situation, interpret the heart rhythm,
and begin CPR using the skills just
learned in class. The “patient” survives,
although the “patient” is not actually a
live person in a hospital, but a high fideli-
ty simulator in a realistic-looking setting
in the Clayton State University School of
Nursing’s Simulation Center.
Simulation has transformed nursing edu-
cation because it provides experiential
learning and a chance to practice critical
thinking skills, as in a hospital setting, but
in a safe environment. Students work in
groups, often changing roles, to practice
caring for “patients” with conditions they
may not ever encounter as students in a
hospital, including uncommon but poten-
tially life-threatening problems such as
shock or hemorrhage.
The Clayton State nursing faculty is
skilled in providing simulated experiences
and providing multi-layered scenarios that
meet sound educational goals to provide
the best possible clinical nursing educa-
tion.
The Clayton State University Simulation
Center, located on the first floor of the
Harry S. Downs Center, has several medi-
um fidelity simulators, as well as three
adult, an adolescent, and an infant simula-
tor, plus Noelle, a pregnant female who
actually delivers a baby. The Center’s latest
acquisition is SimManTM 3G, a fully wire-
less simulator, who even can “sweat” on
command. Students care for patient simula-
tors which replicate human functions such
as blood pressure, pulse, breath sounds, and
bowel sounds, and can even “talk” live with
the use of an audio system.
Action in the Simulation Center can be
stopped for teaching, and a video of the
entire simulation recorded for debriefing,
an essential component of simulation as
students can critique their own work, ask
questions, and allow the instructor to dis-
cuss best practices. Often students debrief
each other, pointing out gaps and errors,
and congratulating good decisions by
their teammates.
Students can practice many skills at once
in simulation, such as therapeutic conver-
sations, medication administration, and
dressing changes. Experiences are
planned by the faculty to meet course
objectives and promote key concepts such
as communication, safety, teamwork, and
leadership to prepare future expert nurses.
Having enough hospital experience to
“think like a nurse,” and be confident
upon graduation, is a concern of most
nursing students. The Simulation Center
provides a way to practice on patients
without ever harming them, to “do over”
when results were not what were expect-
ed, and to could practice critical thinking
and patient care skills.
As a result, high-fidelity simulation is
changing nursing education in a radical
way, by allowing the student to drive
his/her educational experiences in a safe
environment, one that does not pose the
risks and hazards of an actual hospital
environment. High-fidelity simulation has
opened a frontier in experiential learning
for the practice disciplines such as medi-
cine and nursing because students can
practice on “patients” without harm.
Simulation is conducted in a realistic
environment to foster the transfer of skill
acquisition to the clinical environment.
Simulation is used to teach students how
to manage basic patient care which
becomes progressively more complex as
students move through the program.
Simulation mannikins are moulaged to
have the sights, sounds, and smells of real
situations, such as bloody bowel move-
ments, stab wounds, or vomit. In their
capstone experience, students practice
managing patients with complex prob-
lems such as cardiac arrest in preparation
for patient care on graduation.
Starting more than five years ago, Clayton
State was one of the first schools of nurs-
ing in Georgia to use the cutting-edge
technology and state-of-the-art equip-
ment, and is still one of the few with a
complete simulation lab. Simulation is
integrated into the nursing program in clini-
cal courses so that students have advantages
of both actual patient care and simulation,
and support of nurse educators.
Simulated environments include real hos-
pital equipment, including IV pumps and
foley catheters. There are functioning
oxygen gauges and suction, and a crash
cart for codes. The School of Nursing also
partners with the Clayton State College of
Photo Credit: Kevin Liles | kdlphoto.com
Nursing, cont’d., p. 8
Dr. Susan Walsh in Clayton State’s Nursing Simulation Center