FSCC gains another enhancement for lab

Fort Scott Community College Director of Nursing Bill Rhoads (left) watches a demonstration by Nick Tekanic, a registered nurse and trainer with Medical Education Technologies, Inc., of the nursing department's human simulation equipment. Tekanic spent time at the FSCC Burke Street Campus this past spring working with the nursing department on using its human simulators.
(FSCC photo)

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The department was recently awarded a $29,850 Carl D. Perkins Reserve Funds grant to assist in funding for audio and visual equipment in the department's lab. The new equipment is designed to enhance simulation teaching and the nursing students' learning environment, officials said.

Since 2008, the department has been working to build a human simulation lab. Previous grant awards and various donations the department has received has allowed for the purchase of an adult and pediatric simulator, and has helped fund faculty development in the use of human simulators.

A donor's wall was established last year to recognize those who have made the state-of-the-art lab a reality. In the future, staff and students hope to receive an infant simulator that would complete the department's "family" of simulators, an FSCC statement said.

The simulators consist of mannequins activated with compressed air that are connected to a computer system. Students can then use the simulator to train for situations they would typically encounter in an actual clinical environment. The simulators are used in career health education programs across the nation.

With the simulators, students can practice common nursing procedures and learn from their mistakes as they work toward a nursing degree and eventually, a live patient. Students are eventually tested on the program by a computer operator who chooses simulated nursing care challenges for students to face, officials said.

The department's most recent grant award will provide cameras, computer linkage, recording, and display capabilities for students participating in a simulation scenario. With the new equipment, students will be able to monitor the vital signs and wave forms of the simulated patient. Other students in the class will be able to observe the simulation from a large screen display in an adjacent room and give a peer critique. Each student then receives an assigned grade on his or her performance from the instructor.

The FSCC Nursing Department received a separate Perkins grant last fall that funded an adult simulator that the department began using this spring. Perkins grants are federal workforce development funds that are used to pay for equipment and staff development at educational institutions nationwide.

FSCC is a strategic partner with Pittsburg State University and Labette Community College in the development and use of human simulators in nursing programs throughout Southeast Kansas. The partnership allows nursing programs at the three institutions to share resources such as equipment and software, information and knowledge, and faculty development.