There’s a mannequin propped up in an adjustable hospital bed and next to him two students are preparing to administer an intravenous catheter. The mannequin—a dynamic male human simulator— blinks but otherwise is still. The students respond to prompts on a computer screen displaying an image of a hand. Then one of the students gently touches a beige colored square on a box that is connected to the computer.
“That’s the one,” she says as she feels the same veins in the beige square that she sees on the computer screen. While keeping her fingers on the vein she is feeling, she grasps what looks like a long needle and slowly inserts it into where she feels the vein. Her every move is shown on the computer screen and when the catheter is in place, the exercise is complete. She has successfully prepared her on-screen patient for his IV.
In less than a minute, the two students switch places and the other is ready to practice the same procedure, but this time the data of the patient—the gender, the age, the physical condition—is changed, providing a new challenge.
Soon these students and the others in the room who are practicing the same on-screen IV catheterization will perform this procedure on the mannequins occupying the five-bed room.
At first glance, observing the catheterization exercises detailed above, one would assume it’s all taking place in a real hospital. However, these exercises are all happening in the Nursing Simulation Laboratory at California State University Channel Islands, which at first glance looks like a hospital wing but with human simulators in place of real patients.
This fall the University opened its state-of-the-art, 3,300-square foot Nursing Simulation Laboratory— or “Nursing Sim Lab.” With its dynamic human simulators—two adult males and one baby, which cost about $30,000 each, along with seven human simulators of lesser fidelity (five adults and two children)—the Nursing Sim Lab serves as a hands-on learning tool for the 103 students now enrolled in the University’s Nursing Program.
CSU Channel Islands is the only public university between Bakersfield and Los Angeles to offer a bachelor of science degree in nursing. The BSN degree offers the nursing graduates more career and practice options and is required to become a public health nurse in California, and for entry into a master’s or doctoral nursing program.
“One of the immediate benefits our students experienced within the first few days the Nursing Sim Lab opened was logistical. They now have an opportunity to practice procedures without time constraints,” explained Karen Jensen, Director of the Nursing Program.
Jensen’s citation of the lab’s immediate benefits comes from the challenges nursing students faced during the last year. CSU Channel Islands accepted its first 66 nursing students in fall 2007, but at that time the University hadn’t completed its $1.97 million Nursing Sim Lab. While construction was underway, CSU Channel Islands students travelled to Moorpark Community College, sharing time and space with the Moorpark students in Moorpark’s nursing sim lab.
“The best part of having the Nursing Simulation Lab on campus is that we have state-of-the-art equipment so close to us. Having such easy access to a high tech laboratory is an awesome opportunity,” said Elizabeth Rodriguez, a CSU Channel Islands junior enrolled in the Nursing Program. “I want to be the kind of nurse that is able to prioritize quickly and is ready for anything at any given moment.”
The benefits of the Nursing Sim Lab reach far beyond the logistical variety. Students will have multiple opportunities to learn from scenarios they may only experience a handful of times during their hospital clinical hours. The dynamic human simulators in the lab can be programmed to have human-like reactions— coughing, fever, and elevated heart rates—simulating specific situations.
“Twenty-five percent of a student’s clinical experience can come from simulations,” Jensen said. “One of the areas our students will greatly benefit from in our lab will be our pediatric simulations.”
The CSU Channel Islands Nursing Sim Lab has one dynamic-baby simulator and a windowed room within the walls of the lab that can be used as a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for simulations. Jensen explains that actual clinical experience in Pediatrics is one of the most difficult for nursing students in the Ventura County region to encounter. Because of the importance of pediatric experience, Jensen said in the coming year the Nursing Program will purchase another dynamic baby simulator as well as a birthing simulator.
NICU scenarios are just some of the thousands of simulations nursing instructors can replicate in the Sim Lab. The human simulators can be programmed for students to practice situations from respiratory distress to wound care. Additionally, when students practice simulations their actions and words are being recorded so after the exercise they can watch their work and learn from the critiques and evaluations of the instructors.
“The video debriefing is a great way to show students exactly what they are doing right and where they can improve,” Jensen said. “The work with simulators gives students exposure to many different situations, but it is not a substitute for interpersonal communication. The Nursing Sim Lab is a place for students to practice and master the skills they will use every day in their careers.”
