Spring Quarter Marathon

Wow! This quarter has flown by! I can barely believe that we are in the finals week of spring quarter essentially ending my first year as a PhD student. I have had many wonderful learning experiences this quarter in my practicum. Actually, I was so busy with learning that I have not made regular postings to this blog throughout the quarter so I will be compressing the events from this quarter into this final blog posting.

                We (meaning Sue and I) started out the quarter with a presentation to our classmates and professors of the Simulation lab. We were able to demonstrate what we do on a day to day basis related to using Simulation Mannequins as a learning tool for our nursing students. There is a lot of technology going on in the field of nursing; however there does not seem to be a lot of nurses going into technology.

The equipment we demonstrated included the Vital Sims mannequins. We showed how one could listen to heart, lung and bowel sounds of a mannequin. The VitalSim mannequins also have a very small vocabulary and are able to answer simple yes/ no type of questions. We then proceeded to show our class our IV hepatic system. Through the use of simulation, our students are able to initiate IV starts on a computer in our lab prior to starting IVs on each other. This system is highly advanced and the US military also uses it as a training tool.

Our final piece of technology we demonstrated use of was the SimMan 3G. We are very excited to be the first school in Southeastern Ohio to have one. He has capabilities to speak, hear and interact with a conversation. If you are mean to him, he will cry. His nose will run if he gets a cold. If he falls and hits his head he can have a cerebral spinal fluid leak from his ears. His mouth can produce white frothy foam if he is unable to breath or has a seizure. If his bladder gets to full, he can urinate on you or if you need to obtain a urine specimen you can place a catheter into the bladder to drain it. He does have two types of seizures and if you are really nice to him he may blink at you.  He is really a fascinating piece of technology.

My favorite thing this quarter was attending the workshops that my peers held. I learned so much at these sessions that I can actually apply to my learning and teaching. I have thus used a few Prezi’s and placed drop box on my iPhone! I have learned about many collaboration tools that I am planning on implementing into my courses in the future.

My presentation, along with my classmate Sue, was to demonstrate the Smart Board. We had a different type of assignment. We were instructed to develop our presentation for a group of sociology students who would be going into the schools to teach seventh through twelfth grade sociology. My part involved the demo on how to use the tools and white board. Sue crated a power point on the requested material and demoed the use of the Smart board through h the teaching of the power point. We created and administered a  pre and posttest for this project.

 I am sad to see this portion of my student career pass me by but at the same time, I am happy to be moving on. I am looking forward to learning about as many more technologies as I possibly can. I am developing a true passion for this field and always trying to think of ways that I can incorporate the use of some of these technologies into my field of nursing.

Weeks 5-10 in the lab

Wow! It is so hard to believe that the end of Winter quarter is already here! This quarter has been filled with developing content for a lab manual and becoming familiar with our new SimMan 3G. He is great!!!!!

I have gained a knowledge base of how to work him at a novice level. I have worked with him and his computer and software on many occasion so far. We had the sales representative come to lab and assist Sue and I in putting him together and a crash run through on how to use the monitor and the software.

Then, we were provided with a Simulation technician for an entire day. He showed us how to put him together and take him apart when necessary. We have interchangeable body parts. We now know how to add and mix fluids for his use. There is a very specific sequence to adding fluid into the SimMan as well as for removing the fluid. He has many capabilities that I want to save until next quarter when we do a live presentation for our peers. The technician also showed us the software and how to use it. I have had the pleasure of running the software and setting the mannequin into different modes. I have also learned how to use his monitor.

 My portion of the lab manual was hte technical portions.The mannequins steps to turn them on and off. We have separate steps for different types of mannequins. 

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

Last Three Weeks in the lab

Wow! The quarter has flown by!!! I can hardly believe my first quarter of the PhD in Instructional Technology is almost behind me! I have decided to combine the last three weeks of lab into one post as they ran together and due to final exam weeks and student appointments my lab time was scattered about due to needed interruptions. I imagine this is not unlike what I need to expect with working with technology. There are always going to be interruptions. Life becomes and interesting challenge by keeping you on your toes and not letting you know what is next all the time. I will summarize my experiences for the past three weeks now.

            I had time to quickly learn the way to configure the smart board. I was instructed to configure it weekly. It was like playing a game of tick tack toe. Oh, an exciting thing I thought was that I can make it move with the touch of a finger on the board, you don’t have to necessarily use the fake markers and erasers that were provided. I am able to flip and scroll very quickly. I have also demonstrated our web based nursing charting program, nurse squared to a large number and variety of people. I completed many tours in the lab, including 2 entire classes of freshman pre-nursing students. It was fun. I am getting so excited to offer our lab to the students!
             I was able to have a private lunch meeting with the Dean of our college and share some of my ideas for technology use here at Ohio University and my desires for incorporating them into the lab. He seems to be very supportive of our program and the potential we offer to the college of a whole. Nursing is a growing field and with the advancements we are making, the possibilities are endless. The six live mannequins are fully operational. I was able to have the Laradal representative come into the lab and show me a few things that I was not aware of with them. We are also getting the new 3G Sim man. He is unique. I hope to get to know him throughout next quarter.
            Another fun thing I got to do was assist (in a small way) with migrating to Microsoft exchange. I had done this before but this time we added it to the favorite bars and assisted people with finding out how to add Microsoft exchange to the Iphone. There are many potential uses for the Iphone.
            I assisted a college with setting up how to access blackboard on her Iphone. She can now access her courses online by logging into the system on her mobile device. I have the ability to input grades through my mobile device and now so does she. We can both now respond to student emails in a very fast fashion as the phone is set to make a noise when the emails is received.
            I held a few sessions of informal training on our nurse squared program. We had the two male nurse designers of the program come and speak with us and offer a formal training session to available staff and for those who could not make it to the training I am trying to educate them on its use. I have had many questions from inside the school of nursing as well as from visiting parents, nurses and dignitaries that have visited.  It is a different experience knowing something about the technology we use except for what I would have to know to get things done. Technology is a lot like nursing: you can get by with working the program or completing an assessment on a patient but until you actually understand what the program is for and who and why it was created just as you need to have the understanding of what and why things are occurring in the body to do the best that you possibly can.
            The computers in my lab are very clean and are disinfected daily after the end of the usage. I feel that especially in a nursing lab we need to keep it as clean as possible. Oh, I almost forgot I had to move a computer to a different station and get it set up all by myselfJ. Someone had needed a computer and the computer gurus from our college had stolen one of mineL. I came in and was getting prepared to show the lab and realized I was missing a computer. They had tried to be slick and left the monitor for me but thankfully I noticed prior to the group getting there for their tour. I pulled one from a different mannequin that I was not planning on using at that time.
            Overall, I have enjoyed this lab experience and am starting to feel less of a nurse out of the water and more of a nurse bobbing in the water with head out! I am learning so much. I am looking forward to another quarter of excitement… next year.