Many technological gadgets and high-tech facilities at the Capstone College of Nursing help provide nursing students a great advantage in their career preparation to train for lives of service in health professions.
“At Capstone College of Nursing, we are very fortunate, through the hard work of Dean Sara Barger and with the help of generous donors, to have a nursing education facility that is truly state-of-the-art,” Karen Silliman, director of technology and distance education for CCN, said. “As the first building on the UA campus built specifically for nursing education, the structure is designed to integrate technology seamlessly into the walls and floors, creating connections among classrooms and labs.”
Some of the most high-tech gadgetry in the CCN building is found in the Learning Resources Center, a resource containing a computer lab, the Clinical Practice Lab and the Simulation Center for Clinical Excellence.
“In the 34-bed Clinical Practice Lab, bachelor of science in nursing students in their junior year use realistic task trainers, sometimes referred to as low-fidelity simulators, to learn fundamental nursing skills such as IV insertion, medication administration and wound care,” Silliman said. “The Simulation Center for Clinical Excellence includes six simulation rooms, equipped with high-fidelity patient simulators, set up to look like a hospital room or home setting.”
The high-fidelity patient simulators are computer-based mannequins that can breathe, bleed and even have a pulse. The simulators can be programmed to experience various real-life medical conditions, such as a stroke, heart attack or severe dehydration, allowing students to learn how to react to situations in a time constraint.
“Overall, I think the Medical Education Technology simulations are best at preparing nursing students to work as a team with other medical professionals,” Susanna Payton, a third semester upper-division nursing student, said. “I can say that during my simulations, especially when my ‘patient’ went into cardiac arrest, my own heartbeat went up, and I felt overwhelmed. However, I was relieved that I was in the lab and not with an actual patient during my first ‘cardiac arrest.’”
The true benefit of these simulations and the other learning resources in the Clinical Practice Lab is the experience and confidence students are equipped with when they have graduated from the nursing program, Silliman said.
“Without the CPL and Simulation Center, our students would not have the opportunity to practice and apply their skills in a sufficient manner to become confident and competent nurses,” Silliman said. “CCN BSN graduates have a 97 percent pass rate on the state nursing board exam, and we consistently get feedback from employers that our graduates are very well prepared when they arrive for employment.”
The responsibility that will be required for a health profession is fostered early on in the nursing program, with much technology being placed right in the students’ hands to familiarize them with an increasingly technological medical field. Upper-division students are required to purchase mobile medical reference software to be used on a smartphone or another app-capable device, such as an iPod Touch.
“The software programs we use on iPhones, Droids, the iPod Touch are extraordinarily convenient in the clinical setting,” Payton said. “Before the software, nursing students carried around pocket-guides and textbooks in the hospital. It is much easier to use a small electronic device to access the information than it is to carry around textbooks.”
