The Future of Nursing Education: And How You Can Help
The Innovation and Learning Lab will use simulation and technology to prepare nursing leaders and clinicians.
Picture this:
Your loved one is admitted to the hospital with a respiratory condition. Her nurse is a recent graduate from the B.S.N. program at the University of Florida College of Nursing. The nurse assesses her condition and asks a multitude of questions about her symptoms and history. All of a sudden, she goes into ventricular fibrillation, a life-threatening cardiac dysrhythmia. The nurse steps in, recognizing the condition. He immediately calls the code and begins to perform CPR until help arrives to provide advanced life support. Within moments, your loved one is stable and coherent, all thanks to the quick-thinking nurse.
“How did you know to do that?” you ask the nurse. “You saved her life.”
“It was a scenario we practiced with simulation during my nursing program,” the nurse responds. “I was familiar with her symptoms and knew what steps to take because I had already experienced it through the safety of a simulated clinical experience.”
B.S.N. seniors practice their clinical skills on a simulated manikin at the Harrell Medical Education Building. Left to right: Remi Romaine, Alec Gordon and Tanisia Esalomi.
Life-threatening emergencies are a very common occurrence in hospitals, but the outcome is not always this positive.
At the UF College of Nursing, students integrate specific skills learned in class into high-fidelity simulations, as well as role playing and computer-supported activities in lab. Students provide care in numerous specialty situations, such as prenatal, postpartum, mental health, pediatrics and end of life. Students are also exposed to interprofessional simulations focused on medication safety, where they work alongside medical and pharmacy students.
Simulation was first recognized as a problem-solving strategy, one that was used to overcome challenges offered by a shortage of nursing faculty and clinical sites. Simulation became widely used to assess students’ competence and readiness for basic care delivery prior to entering the clinical setting, as well as to prepare them for high-acuity but low exposure clinical activities, like cardiac arrest and obstetric emergencies, without putting the patient’s life at risk.
Simulation provides faculty with control over the learning environment, so students can be exposed to specific clinical events they may not witness in the health care setting.
Clinical Assistant Professor Anita Stephen, M.S.N., R.N., C.N.L., has been managing simulation scenarios for undergraduate students since she began at the college in 2011. She said she enjoys watching the students’ reactions when faced with unexpected challenges.
Lauren Witt, an accelerated B.S.N. student, said her experience with simulation helped her build confidence and feel comfortable in caring for patients. During her first interaction with simulation, she felt awkward and did not know where to start.
“For a moment, my classmates and I all stood around the sim model, speechless and staring like deer in the headlights,” Witt said. “At first, there was a mental block in applying the nursing skills learned in class before my instincts kicked in. I am so thankful that this initial interaction took place in a safe learning environment with a simulation manikin, and not in the hospital with a real patient. Since we have gone through the icebreaker simulations of walking into a room and initiating interactions with sim models, it comes naturally in the hospital setting with the real patients.”
“Even though the students are interacting with a manikin and not a real person, I try to make the situation as realistic and engaging as possible,” Stephen said. “Communication is so important as a nurse. Simulation allows the students to think critically and develop not only their communication
skills, but also their technical and cognitive skills.”
THE FUTURE OF THE IONA M. PETTENGILL NURSING RESOURCE CENTER
The Iona M. Pettengill Nursing Resource Center at the College of Nursing, where the simulation and skills practice take place, includes one large, open room with lecture space, 13 hospital beds with headwall units and IV poles, and four mid-fidelity manikins — or medium-functionality manikins. A separate, smaller room holds one older high-fidelity manikin, one “SimMom” that gives birth, one sim baby and a makeshift partitioned space with video recording, instructor control and debriefing all in one.
As technology evolves, the need to stay current with simulation has become clear. The College of Nursing has identified the need to upgrade its simulation technology necessary for students to practice and learn, as well as completely renovate and outfit the Pettengill Nursing Resource Center.
With these renovations, the simulation experiences will move to the next level of functionality with better communication systems during the simulation, improved debriefing space and tools, environmental enhancements and state-of-the-art simulators.
“These improvements will allow us to integrate more aspects of acute care delivery,” said Jane Gannon, D.N.P., C.N.M., C.N.L., a clinical assistant professor and the college’s director of simulation. “Most importantly will be the overall better use of space that facilitates multiple courses being able to access the lab. Flexibility of the space is being integrated so that one section of the redesigned lab
might house a class of graduate students practicing health assessment skills one day, and a cohort of undergraduates practicing venipuncture and IV insertions the next.”
UF College of Nursing senior Jessica Tayon (right) participates in an interprofessional education simulation scenario with
Clinical Assistant Professor Anita Stephen, M.S.N., R.N., C.N.L. and a medical student at the Harrell Medical Education
Building’s simulation lab.
The first step of the project was completed in the spring when an architectural firm that specializes in simulation labs was secured. Plans were proposed to completely renovate the existing 6,580 square feet of the Pettengill Nursing Resource Center to create an Innovation and Learning Laboratory, and artist renderings were created. The primary objective was to imagine flexible space for a variety of group sizes of varying levels. In the proposed plans, video capture and observation areas will be used to support evidence-based simulation pedagogy. There will be multiple areas for conducting clinical assessments, performing/practicing procedures, enhancing skills and debriefing.
The clinical area will hold five simulation bays that look like a real-world hospital environment. The procedure area will house two identical enclosed rooms with high-fidelity manikins. There will be a separate, shared control room with a one-way glass window between the two procedure rooms for faculty to run the manikins and scenarios. A skills training lab will hold five groups of five students with task trainers, moveable furniture and mixed-reality technology (e.g., projection, iPads, surround sound, etc.).
There will be high-density storage and utility space, a reception/waiting area and a locker area. In addition, a debriefing room with monitors will allow students to observe their simulation scenario performance through the use of video and audio playback.
Clinical Assistant Professor Anita Stephen, M.S.N., R.N., C.N.L., debriefs nursing students following a simulation scenario at the Harrell Medical Education Building. During debriefing, students are able to watch the recorded video of their simulation and discuss what went right and what could be improved.
A new concept for the College of Nursing’s Innovation and Learning Lab is the Design Studio.
“The Design Studio is an exciting addition,” Gannon said. “This is a place for creativity and idea generation to blossom. The space would allow faculty members to brainstorm ideas for new simulations but could just as well be used for any team or group who wants to generate solutions to solve patient care problems.”
“Our students, and therefore their future patients, would greatly benefit from the renovated Innovation and Learning Laboratory at the college, and it would give our students access to their own space, along with a sense of pride and ownership,” said Anna McDaniel, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN, dean and the Linda Harman Aiken Professor.
MAKING THE DREAM A REALITY
Renovating, equipping and staffing the Innovation and Learning Laboratory is a resource-intensive proposition. As one of the College of Nursing’s five fundraising initiatives in the current university-wide “Go Greater” capital campaign, the Innovation and Learning Laboratory is a top priority to maintain educational excellence and relevance.
The total estimated cost of the project is $3 million for construction, equipment, furnishings, software updates, licensing and servicing. The College of Nursing seeks philanthropic individuals and partners who can help bring this new learning paradigm to fruition. Sponsorships and opportunities for all levels of support are available (see below).
“The Innovation and Learning Lab is an imperative initiative at the College of Nursing,” McDaniel said. “Not only is it important for the education of our students, it is essential that the college remain on the forefront of innovation and technology, especially as the university strives to break through to the top five public institutions in the country. Completing this project will allow us
to maintain our greatness in nursing education and prepare generations of Gator Nurses to be expert clinicians and health care leaders.”
INNOVATION AND LEARNING LABORATORY AND HOW YOU CAN HELP
Renovating the Iona M. Pettengill Nursing Resource Center to create the Innovation and Learning Laboratory is a leading priority at the UF College of Nursing. This new laboratory will allow nursing students the opportunity to learn and practice skills in a safe environment with state-of-the-art technology. Completing the renovations and purchasing the needed equipment is only possible through the generous support of alumni and friends, like you. If you are interested in investing in the education of tomorrow’s Gator Nurses, there are numerous opportunities for sponsorship and support. A return envelope can be found in the center of this issue for convenient mail-in donations. You can also give online at uff.ufl.edu/give/ill/ or by scanning the QR code below.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Contact Anna Harper at aemiller@ufl.edu or 352-273-6360.
