Week 4

Week 4

This week we had direction from our Professors on making a check list for our lab. I spent time with Sue discussing the idea of a video lab manual. We decided that although we would eventually like to have a video manual, that we would not use video at this time. We are still planning on using video for the SimMan 3G mannequin portion of the manual. This will be developed near the end of the quarter.

Sue and I developed a plan for our presentation that we will give to our peers at the end of the quarter. This may change after we get the SimMan 3G together and have the opportunity to start developing ideas on him. We also talked about what kind of check lists would work for the Simulation lab. We decided that we needed a student and a faculty portion. We will also have a SimMan checklist later in the quarter. I spent some time on the internet reviewing other Simulation Lab Manuals. They range in length; one I saw was over 300 pages. I am not sure how long ours will be, but I am betting we will not be at the 300 mark! We begin the process of our checklist. We discovered we had a few different ideas on what a check list is and should include so we had to compromise and came up with a draft. We placed our draft in dropbox.com and invited our professors to join. I believe two of the three have joined us thus far. 

This week in the lab the students were in the beds practicing range of motion and positioning skills. These are vital skills for our students as they will be assisting real life patients next quarter.  All of our mannequins’ had to be removed from their beds so the students could use the beds. We continue to have a family of mannequins displayed in the “display window” and the child I put away for a while. I decided to leave a male and a female mannequin out sitting at the tables with the students. Grandma mannequin I removed from the bed as she assisted our students in learning how to allow a patient to “fall” (really, we do not allow patients to fall, it is a way of lowering a patient to the ground softly if they can no longer hold themselves up). Students seemed to enjoy this week. Stay tuned for more!

Week 3

Week 3

I spent my hours this week in the Simulation lab as well as working with Sue discussing different ideas related to the entire process we wanted to complete this quarter. We discussed developing weekly objectives for both faculty and students for the lab course we are currently teaching. We thought we would add a day by day lesson plan to our manual as each course we teach in the lab will be repeated in the future with another group a year later. This portion of the manual is to be updated each year it is used. I spent time going back over week one and week twos content and developing (it is currently on paper-still needs typed up) a faculty lesson plan and a student plan based on health assessment course. We decided that due to the assigned units from the course coordinator, we should be the responsible person for that week’s content. Sue developed week three and four content and we plan to break up the remaining weeks as they come.

Despite the weather we had this week, we met with the class for EDCT 880. We were given closer instructions on what the Professors wanted us to focus on for the following week so we redirected our thoughts to the upcoming check lists that would be do. I still am developing ideas for the rules section on the manual. Nursing is accountable not only to the University but also to the School of Nursing within the College, which includes the regional campuses. Here, we are governed by our own set of rules and regulations. Nursing has many authoritative agencies that we must comply with. The rules we apply must be approved by our peers, which often takes some time to occur.

During this week in the Simulation Lab the students continued working on practicing their Vital signs on each other. They also worked very hard on learning how to complete a skin assessment. Some of the mannequins were placed back into the beds while others were moved to the “display window”. In order for the students to have the best life like experience they can, it is important that they view the mannequins as true patients, thus the reason for the street clothes, make up and jewelry on some of the mannequins.  There will be more to come in the weeks to come.

Week 2

Week 2 in the Simulation Lab

We have been given our change from our Professors for this class this quarter.  We are to complete a Simulation Lab Manual. We are to spend 5 hours a week working on ways to complete this charge.  My hours for week 2 were spent along with Sue, at the Tri-State Simulation and Skills Lab Consortium meeting at Mt St Josephs in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was a very productive meeting. We used the drive to and from to brainstorm on our lab ideas and how we could create this lab manual. We plan to use this manual not only for our coursework but as an actual lab manual for the BSN Simulation Nursing Lab.  We have many great ideas that you will hopefully be able to see over the next few months as we complete out manual.  We gained a lot of valuable information from this meeting and also valuable contacts from other schools and colleges with Simulation labs.

We were able to meet with the Laredal representative and had an opportunity to see the new SimMan 3G used. We are happy to say, that we at Ohio University have a SimMan 3g! Unfortunately, we are not allowed to take him out of the packaging until a later date due to the warranty we must wait on the representative to come here and assist us in putting him together. He comes in many parts. He is a wireless interactive mannequin. He has many built in neurological functions and we were able to be witness to many of his skills during our meeting.  He is able to produce tears, urine, and blood amongst many other things. We were given a cook book with many great ideas from other faculty members on how to make very realistic body fluids and products.

On another note, my students were able to practice taking vital signs this week in the lab. They have also all been successfully checked off on washing their hands, which is a critical skill for a nurse! Our mannequins have been dressed and moved out of the beds for students to practice. I along with two of the lab instructors dressed our mannequins and placed then in chairs out of the bed so the students could use the beds. We are having a great ride thus far! I look forward to updating you on our progress.

Welcome Back to Winter Quarter!

Please understand that although there is a gap in time on this blog, the work in the Simulation Lab has continued! My position at Ohio University is Simulation Lab Coordinator.  Therefore, I am responsible for getting things ready for all student activity in the lab and for coordinating with other disciplines and/or other resources to be sure our nursing students at Ohio University have the best experience they can have! I am happy to have this honor!

As the winter quarter began on a Monday, thus did our lab experience for this quarter. This was the first group of students to enter the lab as official nursing students in a Lab class. The excitement on the student’s faces says it all! They were eager to learn and I think very happy to get the opportunity to learn in lab! This blog will hold the weekly events that occur in the Simulation Lab as a learning experience for my EDCT880 course for my PhD in Instructional technology. This is an extension of my last quarter blog. Please view and comment as you please.

Thanks,

Sherleena