Nursing students practice for real world
Simulation gives students hands-on experience they might not get otherwise.
Sarah Even
Issue date: 2/13/08 Section: News
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The nursing program at SDSU uses Simulation Mannequins-or SimMan-who allows the nursing students to practice real life scenarios.
Amy Jones, assistant professor and head of the simulation task force for the college, says the SimMan is very lifelike. It has a pulse that the students can actually feel, it breathes like a regular person and it has "skin" where IVs can be inserted.
According to Roberta Olson, Dean of the College of Nursing, a SimMan is used for scenarios such as simulating a cardiac arrest in a patient. The professor could pick a different scenario each time so the students become accustomed to working with various situations.
"A variety of other situations are programmed into the computer and simulated through the SimMan, who then can talk to the student and tell of his symptoms," Olson said.
Jones said that simulation is critical to learning because it gives the students the experience they need to be competent in a clinical situation.
"Simulation is important because it gives the students hands-on experience, and it increases their comfort level. The more comfortable you are, the better you're going to handle a real-life experience," Jones said.
Olson said that simulation is also important because it gives the same kinds of hands-on experience to all of the nursing students.
"All students would not have the same experience in a clinical setting," Olson said. "It would depend on the types of patients that are hospitalized during that clinical time; i.e., some would get the experience, and some would not."
According to Olson, the SimMan helps the students learn because it allows them to repeat the situation if necessary. It also allows them to evaluate the situation afterwards.
"[Students have the] ability to debrief-what went well, what mistakes were made, how to perform the nursing interventions more effectively and efficiently for the next scenario," Olson said.
Jones said that she has not done any official research on the students' opinions on the SimMan, but students often comment to her on how much they like the experience.
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