Pocket PC and Simulation Partnered to Enhance Nursing Education
Summary: At the end of this presentation, attendees will be able to:
1. describe strategies to use Pocket PC and high-fidelity simulator to enhance safe and effective medication administration experience for nursing students.
2. describe the effectiveness of the simulated experience from students’ and faculty members’ perspectives on subsequent medication administration during clinical practice.
Description:
Background: To emphasize safe practice and decision-making in medication administration for nursing students, the Pocket PC was paired with a high-fidelity simulator (Sim Man) prior to students’ first clinical experience administering medications. The simulator was placed in a private hospital room, with a barcode medication administration system. Students used the Pocket PC to learn about medications. They then verbalized key medication information to the faculty member, made decisions about medication safety, and administered medications to Sim Man.
Objective: We examined the effectiveness of the simulated experience from students’ and faculty members’ perspectives on subsequent medication administration during clinical practice.
Method: An exploratory descriptive design was used. Participants were 17 nursing students and two faculty members in a 4-week intensive fundamental clinical course (summer 2008). Open-ended questions were used at the beginning of the study to assess students’ baseline knowledge of medication administration and at the end of the study to assess student and faculty perceptions of the simulated experience. Content analysis was used to identify common themes of comments.
Results: Students reported that the simulated experience increased their confidence in both medication administration as well as interactions with faculty. They appreciated quick access of information in the Pocket PC and used this information to provide patient education and a holistic approach to medication administration. Faculty stated that students were less apprehensive with medication administration and used critical thinking skills instead of focusing on the task of medication administration. Both students and faculty expressed interest in more simulated experiences.
Conclusions: This teaching strategy improved students’ critical thinking skills and prepared them for actual medication experiences in the hospital setting. This simulated environment model, focusing on decision-making about safe and effective medication administration, can be used to prevent and reduce high-risk or high-volume medication errors.
Objective: We examined the effectiveness of the simulated experience from students’ and faculty members’ perspectives on subsequent medication administration during clinical practice.
Method: An exploratory descriptive design was used. Participants were 17 nursing students and two faculty members in a 4-week intensive fundamental clinical course (summer 2008). Open-ended questions were used at the beginning of the study to assess students’ baseline knowledge of medication administration and at the end of the study to assess student and faculty perceptions of the simulated experience. Content analysis was used to identify common themes of comments.
Results: Students reported that the simulated experience increased their confidence in both medication administration as well as interactions with faculty. They appreciated quick access of information in the Pocket PC and used this information to provide patient education and a holistic approach to medication administration. Faculty stated that students were less apprehensive with medication administration and used critical thinking skills instead of focusing on the task of medication administration. Both students and faculty expressed interest in more simulated experiences.
Conclusions: This teaching strategy improved students’ critical thinking skills and prepared them for actual medication experiences in the hospital setting. This simulated environment model, focusing on decision-making about safe and effective medication administration, can be used to prevent and reduce high-risk or high-volume medication errors.
Karen Chang
Assistant Professor
Purdue University, School of Nursing
Assistant Professor
Purdue University, School of Nursing
Dr. Karen Chang serves as the Director of Information Technology (IT) to the Purdue University School of Nursing. In this position, she collaborates with nursing faculty and other disciplines to integrate IT into the system of patient care and nursing education. She has secured several IT-related grants, integrated the use of IT to the courses she taught, helped faculty and staff members gain competencies in using IT, and collaborated with other disciplines and hospitals to develop, implement, and evaluate the effects of IT on the quality of nursing education and patient care.
Jane Kirkpatrick
Associate Professor, Interim Associate Dean Purdue University, College of Pharmacy, Nursing and Health Sciences
Purdue University, School of Nursing
Associate Professor, Interim Associate Dean Purdue University, College of Pharmacy, Nursing and Health Sciences
Purdue University, School of Nursing
Jane Kirkpatrick is an award-winning teacher, receiving the International Tribute Award for Information Technology from Sigma Theta Tau International in 2005 for “PhysWhiz II: Labor and Delivery,” a computer-based professional education program that she co-authored with Linda Caputi. In the School of nursing, she is a multiple recipient of the LaNelle E.Geddes Excellence in Teaching Award. She is listed in the Purdue Book of Great Teachers, was inducted into the Purdue Teaching Academy.She is immediate past chair of the executive council of the University Teaching Academy and also has served on many university committees related to student issues as well as the School of Nursing’s student affairs and curriculum committees.
Her research focuses on computer-based learning and simulation in nursing education. She is certified as an inpatient obstetric nurse by the National Certification Corporation. Her instructional programs on newborn assessment are used in nursing schools and hospitals around the world. She was appointed in spring of 2008 to serve as the interim Head of the Purdue School of Nursing and interim Associate Dean in the College of Pharmacy, Nursing, and Health Sciences.
Michael Criswell
Clinical Assistant Professor
Purdue University, School of Nursing
Clinical Assistant Professor
Purdue University, School of Nursing
Dr. Michael Criswell is an assistant clinical professor of nursing at Purdue University. He is a board certified CNS in critical care, and has over 35 years of critical care/trauma nursing experience. His teaching interests include medical surgical clinical, and pathophysiology lectures to undergraduate nursing students, and advanced pathophysiology to graduate NP students. His research interests include managing throughput and other related health care access problems, how simulation in nursing training can affect performance and improve patient safety, and how EBP related to critical care nursing, can improve family-nurse-patient relationships.