Consistent Training for Nurses
Using a Smart Hospital
Using a Smart Hospital
Nursing Simulation -- Educating for the Future
July 28, 2006
by Michael Johns, Project Manager
UTA School of Nursing, a Laerdal Center of Excellence in Simulation, is on the leading edge of innovations in health care education.
As reported on July 9, 2006,
An overly modest announcement made earlier this month that UT-Arlington's School of Nursing had bought a building on West Nedderman Street to house a Smart Hospital barely made a ripple in town.
"I don't think any other program in the world has all the resources in both quantity and quality -- and we will have another major announcement soon -- that will underscore this." -- Elizabeth Poster, Dean, UT-Arlington Nursing.
Though the event qualified as a major announcement within the national medical community, most Arlington residents probably didn't catch the significance, part of which is this:
It means that Arlington could well become the world leader in what is considered an advanced frontier of nursing education -- the use of highly sophisticated simulation systems that reproduce a variety of medical problems.
Consistency
The major flaw in nursing education has always been consistency. Training can be first-rate, instructors dedicated and talented, students zealous and attentive. But it can still take nurses many years on the job to see even a small sampling of more esoteric medical problems.
There's a lot of difference between a textbook or lecture about tuberculosis, malaria or typhus and actually running into a patient with the ailment.
But there is one demonstrated shortcut to providing students with hands-on experience. That's to use simulation technology, essentially manikins that create computer simulations of healthcare problems in patients young and old with different degrees of severity. The programs are so sophisticated that they can also be used to teach students to work with trauma, emergency-room problems and both intensive and primary care interventions.
Clearly there is not, nor will there ever likely be, a fully adequate substitute for practical experience. But UT-Arlington nursing dean Elizabeth Poster believes that with simulation training, graduates will begin their professional lives with the kind of experience that usually takes years to accumulate.
"I don't think any other program in the world has all the resources in both quantity and quality -- and we will have another major announcement soon -- that will underscore this," Poster said.
Poster is not prone to undue superlatives. If she believes the UTA simulation program to be among the elite, even a world leader, then take it to the bank. That status also means that the Smart Hospital will become the testing ground for new, increasingly complex technology in the field.
Media contact: Susan M. Slupecki, (817) 272-7078, slupecki@uta.edu
From the The University of Texas at Arlington School of Nursing website:
With funding from The University of Texas System ENTER program and a grant from the Amon Carter Foundation, the School has purchased the Pachl Office and Classroom Annex buildings, located on W. Nedderman Drive. Renovations will take place over the next few months with plans to open the Smart HospitalTM in spring 2007.
The more than 13,000-square-foot, two-building complex will house state-of-the-science patient care units such as an emergency department, intensive care unit (ICU), labor and delivery, pediatrics and medical/surgical rooms with infant, child, adult and birthing manikins, as well as trained actors who play the role of patients and family members.
"We are very pleased to have the additional space to provide our students the most advanced teaching methods, technology and equipment that will best prepare them to enter the healthcare workforce as confident and competent new graduates," said Dean Elizabeth Poster.
Currently located in Pickard Hall, the Smart HospitalTM uses 27 manikins (simulated patients), task trainers and computer simulations of patient conditions/nursing interventions to educate students in acute, trauma, emergency, intensive and primary care interventions. The 12 high-fidelity simulated patients can be programmed to present an array of health care problems across the life span with different degrees of severity and disease variations.
The Nursing ENTER (Enrich Nursing through Exceptional Recruitment) Program is intended to provide a laboratory to retain current faculty and facilitate the recruitment of faculty whose area of interest and research is the use of simulation and technology in the teaching/learning process.
There are three phases of the training:
PHASE 1 -- Phase I of the Smart Hospital, a virtual hospital setting, ensures optimum student learning through the use of patient simulators (interactive manikins) and other innovative learning technologies. Located within the School of Nursing, this setting prepares students for real-life situations before entry into the workforce and allows them an opportunity to experience patient conditions they may not otherwise encounter during their nursing education. The current 7,000 sq ft. of classroom space has reached capacity with demands escalating to meet the needs of 650 students and external requests by health care agencies. A $496,000 Congressionally Directed grant provided the funding for the Phase I Smart Emergency Department.
PHASE 2 -- Using funds from the UT System and the Amon Carter Foundation, a new 15,000 sq. ft. facility on campus in Fall 2006 will allow for innovative uses of the school's 30 manikins and other simulation technology. Working with health care architectural designers, this setting will be a "state of the science health care environment" for student learning, research and development of hospital systems and new products, vendor showcasing, and competency evaluations of employees within the health care workforce and community service professions. press release
Phase 3--SMART HOSPITAL AND HEALTH SYSTEM - The School of Nursing plans to build a 100,000 sq. ft. facility to house the Smart Hospital and Health System (SHHS). The SHHS will be a 60 bed virtual hospital with 60 simulated patients serving as a regional and national demonstration center. It will be a site for multidisciplinary health care education and evaluation of clinical competency, workforce and product development and health care research. The SHHS will also be constructed to serve as a community resource for disaster response. Bringing together a collaborative team of UT Arlington and external researchers, the SHHS will provide evidence based data for wide reaching changes in education and health care systems.
For more information, contact Dean Poster in the School of Nursing at (817) 272-2776.
You can also view this article at the UT Arlington website.
As reported on July 9, 2006,
An overly modest announcement made earlier this month that UT-Arlington's School of Nursing had bought a building on West Nedderman Street to house a Smart Hospital barely made a ripple in town.
"I don't think any other program in the world has all the resources in both quantity and quality -- and we will have another major announcement soon -- that will underscore this." -- Elizabeth Poster, Dean, UT-Arlington Nursing.
Though the event qualified as a major announcement within the national medical community, most Arlington residents probably didn't catch the significance, part of which is this:
It means that Arlington could well become the world leader in what is considered an advanced frontier of nursing education -- the use of highly sophisticated simulation systems that reproduce a variety of medical problems.
Consistency
The major flaw in nursing education has always been consistency. Training can be first-rate, instructors dedicated and talented, students zealous and attentive. But it can still take nurses many years on the job to see even a small sampling of more esoteric medical problems.
There's a lot of difference between a textbook or lecture about tuberculosis, malaria or typhus and actually running into a patient with the ailment.
But there is one demonstrated shortcut to providing students with hands-on experience. That's to use simulation technology, essentially manikins that create computer simulations of healthcare problems in patients young and old with different degrees of severity. The programs are so sophisticated that they can also be used to teach students to work with trauma, emergency-room problems and both intensive and primary care interventions.
Clearly there is not, nor will there ever likely be, a fully adequate substitute for practical experience. But UT-Arlington nursing dean Elizabeth Poster believes that with simulation training, graduates will begin their professional lives with the kind of experience that usually takes years to accumulate.
"I don't think any other program in the world has all the resources in both quantity and quality -- and we will have another major announcement soon -- that will underscore this," Poster said.
Poster is not prone to undue superlatives. If she believes the UTA simulation program to be among the elite, even a world leader, then take it to the bank. That status also means that the Smart Hospital will become the testing ground for new, increasingly complex technology in the field.
Media contact: Susan M. Slupecki, (817) 272-7078, slupecki@uta.edu
From the The University of Texas at Arlington School of Nursing website:
With funding from The University of Texas System ENTER program and a grant from the Amon Carter Foundation, the School has purchased the Pachl Office and Classroom Annex buildings, located on W. Nedderman Drive. Renovations will take place over the next few months with plans to open the Smart HospitalTM in spring 2007.
The more than 13,000-square-foot, two-building complex will house state-of-the-science patient care units such as an emergency department, intensive care unit (ICU), labor and delivery, pediatrics and medical/surgical rooms with infant, child, adult and birthing manikins, as well as trained actors who play the role of patients and family members.
"We are very pleased to have the additional space to provide our students the most advanced teaching methods, technology and equipment that will best prepare them to enter the healthcare workforce as confident and competent new graduates," said Dean Elizabeth Poster.
Currently located in Pickard Hall, the Smart HospitalTM uses 27 manikins (simulated patients), task trainers and computer simulations of patient conditions/nursing interventions to educate students in acute, trauma, emergency, intensive and primary care interventions. The 12 high-fidelity simulated patients can be programmed to present an array of health care problems across the life span with different degrees of severity and disease variations.
The Nursing ENTER (Enrich Nursing through Exceptional Recruitment) Program is intended to provide a laboratory to retain current faculty and facilitate the recruitment of faculty whose area of interest and research is the use of simulation and technology in the teaching/learning process.
There are three phases of the training:
PHASE 1 -- Phase I of the Smart Hospital, a virtual hospital setting, ensures optimum student learning through the use of patient simulators (interactive manikins) and other innovative learning technologies. Located within the School of Nursing, this setting prepares students for real-life situations before entry into the workforce and allows them an opportunity to experience patient conditions they may not otherwise encounter during their nursing education. The current 7,000 sq ft. of classroom space has reached capacity with demands escalating to meet the needs of 650 students and external requests by health care agencies. A $496,000 Congressionally Directed grant provided the funding for the Phase I Smart Emergency Department.
PHASE 2 -- Using funds from the UT System and the Amon Carter Foundation, a new 15,000 sq. ft. facility on campus in Fall 2006 will allow for innovative uses of the school's 30 manikins and other simulation technology. Working with health care architectural designers, this setting will be a "state of the science health care environment" for student learning, research and development of hospital systems and new products, vendor showcasing, and competency evaluations of employees within the health care workforce and community service professions. press release
Phase 3--SMART HOSPITAL AND HEALTH SYSTEM - The School of Nursing plans to build a 100,000 sq. ft. facility to house the Smart Hospital and Health System (SHHS). The SHHS will be a 60 bed virtual hospital with 60 simulated patients serving as a regional and national demonstration center. It will be a site for multidisciplinary health care education and evaluation of clinical competency, workforce and product development and health care research. The SHHS will also be constructed to serve as a community resource for disaster response. Bringing together a collaborative team of UT Arlington and external researchers, the SHHS will provide evidence based data for wide reaching changes in education and health care systems.
For more information, contact Dean Poster in the School of Nursing at (817) 272-2776.
You can also view this article at the UT Arlington website.