A place to practice real-life situations
Posted 02/06/2013 1:15 PM
Guest blog by Megan Syverson, an MSOE nursing student and representative on the School of Nursing planning committee
The simulation rooms are even bigger than I had imagined! Multiple students will be able to work comfortably during simulations, in addition to having an instructor in the room for guidance, and potentially interacting with the family members of SimMan! Also, with cabinets in the room, we can keep all the supplies stocked in the room that we may need for the simulations, which reduces clutter and really opens the room up. It hopefully will make life easier for instructors Jeri Schuster and Kathy Raczynski (and student workers)! Jeri, Kathy, Assistant Professor Jane Paige and any other professors who might run simulations will also have plenty of room inside the control rooms to manipulate the manikins and monitors. There will be a place to set the patient’s charts right outside the room, just like how many patient beds are set up at the hospitals. Having the environment really simulate what we’ll experience in the clinical setting really enhances our learning as students and helps to optimally prepare us for when we practice on our own.
Another cool feature of two of the simulation rooms is that they have the potential to open up into a big classroom. By folding up the moving wall, the simulation room and classroom can be shared, allowing a simulation to be observed by an entire class. This is a great opportunity because there are many things in nursing that are better learned by watching a patient simulation or a demonstration.
Attached to each of the simulation rooms are break out rooms, which offer a place to debrief about the simulation and learn more from that experience. When not used for clinical or simulations, they can be reserved and used as study rooms by students. These break out rooms can also open up into a small conference room. This might be advantageous for the nursing organizations to have their meetings, or for faculty meetings, small classes or small conferences.
The rest of the nursing department consists of faculty offices along the periphery of the department. The nursing faculty is close enough to reach if we need help, but far enough away for us to enjoy our space in our student lounge area, which I think is optimal for everyone! We’ll try to keep the noise level down, but I’m sure we’ll be busy studying and doing all those papers and projects that are assigned to us anyway! J
So that’s the SON lab in a nutshell. Can’t wait until we officially move in on Feb. 7...that day will be here before we know it! It’ll be fun to see how all these spaces are utilized in the near future because all these spaces throughout the Nursing Department are so multifunctional!