A Patient Man

By Nina M. Riccio

The patient's heart beats rapidly. His pulse is racing. He is agitated and cries out in Swahili as the nurse gives him an injection, then refuses to let her put in a central line.

This scene could be taking place in any number of hospitals. Fortunately, this particular one will happen at the School of Nursing, and the nurses involved - students all - will be getting the practice they need before they go out into the real world. And the "patient?" He's a rubber and plastic simulator mannequin (this one, by Laerdal Laboratories, is called SimMan®) that's computerized and can be programmed to talk, simulate a range of illnesses, and even to die. It's a piece of equipment the School's lab director, Diana (DeBartolomeo) Mager '88, RN, MSN, has long coveted and finally has, all thanks to a recent graduate.

In her senior year, Olivia Weeks '05, an adult learner in the undergraduate nursing program, worked with Mager as a lab assistant, teaching skills to younger undergraduates, overseeing the computer lab, and setting up practice workstations. "Olivia was very caring and helpful, someone who always motivated the other students," Mager says.

At the end of the semester, Weeks approached Mager and mentioned that she was thinking of leaving a gift to the School - specifically, to the Learning Resource Lab. "I told her there were all sorts of things we needed, large and small. When she told me the kind of money she was willing to donate, I almost fell off my chair!" says Mager. Last May, as Weeks walked up to the podium to get her diploma, she handed Dean Jeanne Novotny a check for $35,000 expressly for the purchase of SimMan®. This semester, in conjunction with the Center for Academic Excellence , faculty are being trained to program it and are working on course development so that they can begin integrating it into their classes.

"We'll still use the low-tech models we have now for teaching some of the basic skills," says Mager. "But SimMan® takes us one step further. We can program it to have a heart arrhythmia after he receives his meds, for example, or to have a cultural bias against a female nurse. Obviously, it's a lot better for our students to deal with these kinds of unexpected issues in our lab before they go to work in a real hospital."

But patient simulator mannequins are only one small piece of what's needed to give today's nursing students practice in the modern technologies they need to stay competitive in the market. That's why one of the priorities identified by Dr. Novotny and the School's newly formed Advisory Board is the upgrade of the Learning Resource Center. The upgrade will include a health assessment lab in which students can practice skills such as catheterizations; a multimedia classroom; a demonstration classroom in which students can use simulation models to practice a range of skills; and wireless classrooms that will give students faster and more complete access to programs and the Internet.

"Students will be able to perform a procedure in one room, for example, while their classmates observe from another. They can then critique the procedure and write care plans as they are observing," explains Dr. Suzanne Campbell, project director for the Learning Resource Center upgrades. "We'll be able to use the technology in simulation models, computers, and various programs to supplement our teaching."

But all this technology comes with a price. Upgrading the lab is a four-year initiative with a projected cost of $570,000, including equipment, faculty development, and curriculum, but excluding the cost of construction. The School's Advisory Board, launched in June 2005, will spearhead the fundraising campaign, and gifts are currently being sought from corporations, private foundations, individuals, and government sources. "I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to work with the individuals who have agreed to share their outstanding talents with us," says Dr. Novotny of the professionals on the Advisory Board.

Meanwhile, the lab's newest patient rests comfortably in his bed, waiting to be poked and prodded by a new generation of well-trained, hands-on student nurses.