He is Simulation Man 3G, or SimMan/Sheman for short. This state-of-the-art training manikin gives Northeast State Nursing students a virtual patient in a laboratory setting. Students put their real-life skills to the test on this patient at the Regional Center for Health Professions on the Northeast State at Kingsport campus.
“We use manikins in care scenarios, but this is the first semester we’ve had this particular SimMan that has all the bells and whistles,” said student Grant Green. “Being able to see all the stats, his heart rate, oxygen monitor and respirations all transfers over pretty well to the real world.”
Nursing students test their skills with SimMan.
SimMan operates as a life-like manikin and teaching tool that exhibits a variety of patient conditions through recorded simulations. Nursing students engage in live synchronous activities and demonstrations to gauge responses and protocols to a patient’s care needs. Students are assessed based on their responses to the simulated patient event.
“The Nursing faculty carry out a simulated condition of the patient,” said Angel Rose, BSN lab assistant for Nursing at Northeast State. “Students must respond to the patient’s condition and go through what they have learned to treat the patient.”
SimMan provides clinical/lab time conducted live or recorded and get posted to the Laerdal simulation program or to the Desire-to-Learn (D2L) e-learning platform. SimMan setup uses two cameras – one over the manikin, one from the side – capturing any symptoms exhibited while showing a faculty/student interaction or intervention. These images are streamed live or recorded.
During a SimMan demonstration, nursing students receive information about the patient from a professor. The simulation starts with SimMan feeling discomfort and elevated vital signs. Students assess the issue as the prognosis changes via computer simulations made to the manikin. The Nursing curriculum will be able to utilize this manikin for all four semesters.
All student interactions with SimMan get uploaded into cloud technology with students and/or faculty given access. Faculty and/or students can provide interventions, document, and interact with the ongoing simulation without being present. Students can also access the recorded simulation statistics and evaluate the event and nursing care provided. Students were also able to catch faculty members making intentional errors during the event to enhance the students’ concept of critical thinking about patient care.
“It is the closest thing to a real person we can see,” said Veronica Barnett, a Nursing student who made her way to Northeast State via the Tennessee Promise scholarship.
After graduating this spring she plans to pursue her bachelor’s degree and get into the emergent travel nursing side of health care. Like her fellow students, Barnett said COVID pandemic only strengthened her resolve to purse health care as a career.
‘I always wanted to be in the medical field,” she said. “This was the gateway for me.”
Students Veronica Barnett (left) and Grant Green check the vitals on SimMan.
During the initial COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020, hospitals and health care facilities halted on-site facility visits from students requiring clinical rotations. The stoppage affected nursing and other health care students across the country. Northeast Nursing students resumed clinical rotations in the summer of 2020 and continued through the fall semester.
The College’s associate of applied science degree in Nursing sets forth multiple learning objectives and program outcomes for students to achieve. Nursing education programs meet accountability standards to their accreditation agency and state board of nursing throughout the country.
Dealing with the closure of clinical sites, the Tennessee Board of Nursing (TBN) adopted a position statement for simulation as “a technique to replace or amplify real experiences that evoke or replicate substantial aspects of the real world in an interactive manner.” The TBN capped use of the simulation manikin not to exceed 50 percent of any teaching program’s clinical hours per course.
“There are an infinite number of scenarios we can run through SimMan to test students,” said Rose. “It has been a life saver because of the limited amount of time students have had at a hospital.”
The Nursing program acquired SimMan via funds made available through the CARES Act budget. The entire Nursing faculty went through a two-day training seminar to operate SimMan as a teaching tool.
Care responses are timed as students go through the protocols of treatment. SimMan’s vocalizations, symptoms, and vital signs are displayed live on a monitor. The patient may descend into lost consciousness or cardiac arrest where CPR is needed. The SimMan software records the CPR and measures taken by students to revive the patient. Beyond the bells and whistles, students agree that nurses communicating the patient’s status during treatment is the key to care.
“The pressure is there to bring that simulation patient back to life,” said student John Metheny, who left his career in the banking industry to pursue nursing. “I’m sure it is different in person, but it is as close as we are going to get until we are in that situation.”
A new cohort of Nursing students will graduate from the program this spring. The program’s annual pinning ceremony will be conducted on May 7. After that, the NCLEX exam is administered to graduates pursuing their licensure as registered nurses.
For these students, COVID has not changed their dedication or determination. Pandemics happen. Technology changes how we live. The role of the nurse remains the same.
“Our job is to care for people,” said student Cody Webb. “No matter what the problem is.”
He groans. He blinks. He seizes. He even bleeds.
He is Simulation Man 3G, or SimMan/Sheman for short. This state-of-the-art training manikin gives Northeast State Nursing students a virtual patient in a laboratory setting. Students put their real-life skills to the test on this patient at the Regional Center for Health Professions on the Northeast State at Kingsport campus.
“We use manikins in care scenarios, but this is the first semester we’ve had this particular SimMan that has all the bells and whistles,” said student Grant Green. “Being able to see all the stats, his heart rate, oxygen monitor and respirations all transfers over pretty well to the real world.”
SimMan operates as a life-like manikin and teaching tool that exhibits a variety of patient conditions through recorded simulations. Nursing students engage in live synchronous activities and demonstrations to gauge responses and protocols to a patient’s care needs. Students are assessed based on their responses to the simulated patient event.
“The Nursing faculty carry out a simulated condition of the patient,” said Angel Rose, BSN lab assistant for Nursing at Northeast State. “Students must respond to the patient’s condition and go through what they have learned to treat the patient.”
SimMan provides clinical/lab time conducted live or recorded and get posted to the Laerdal simulation program or to the Desire-to-Learn (D2L) e-learning platform. SimMan setup uses two cameras – one over the manikin, one from the side – capturing any symptoms exhibited while showing a faculty/student interaction or intervention. These images are streamed live or recorded.
During a SimMan demonstration, nursing students receive information about the patient from a professor. The simulation starts with SimMan feeling discomfort and elevated vital signs. Students assess the issue as the prognosis changes via computer simulations made to the manikin. The Nursing curriculum will be able to utilize this manikin for all four semesters.
All student interactions with SimMan get uploaded into cloud technology with students and/or faculty given access. Faculty and/or students can provide interventions, document, and interact with the ongoing simulation without being present. Students can also access the recorded simulation statistics and evaluate the event and nursing care provided. Students were also able to catch faculty members making intentional errors during the event to enhance the students’ concept of critical thinking about patient care.
“It is the closest thing to a real person we can see,” said Veronica Barnett, a Nursing student who made her way to Northeast State via the Tennessee Promise scholarship.
After graduating this spring she plans to pursue her bachelor’s degree and get into the emergent travel nursing side of health care. Like her fellow students, Barnett said COVID pandemic only strengthened her resolve to purse health care as a career.
‘I always wanted to be in the medical field,” she said. “This was the gateway for me.”
During the initial COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020, hospitals and health care facilities halted on-site facility visits from students requiring clinical rotations. The stoppage affected nursing and other health care students across the country. Northeast Nursing students resumed clinical rotations in the summer of 2020 and continued through the fall semester.
The College’s associate of applied science degree in Nursing sets forth multiple learning objectives and program outcomes for students to achieve. Nursing education programs meet accountability standards to their accreditation agency and state board of nursing throughout the country.
Dealing with the closure of clinical sites, the Tennessee Board of Nursing (TBN) adopted a position statement for simulation as “a technique to replace or amplify real experiences that evoke or replicate substantial aspects of the real world in an interactive manner.” The TBN capped use of the simulation manikin not to exceed 50 percent of any teaching program’s clinical hours per course.
“There are an infinite number of scenarios we can run through SimMan to test students,” said Rose. “It has been a life saver because of the limited amount of time students have had at a hospital.”
The Nursing program acquired SimMan via funds made available through the CARES Act budget. The entire Nursing faculty went through a two-day training seminar to operate SimMan as a teaching tool.
Care responses are timed as students go through the protocols of treatment. SimMan’s vocalizations, symptoms, and vital signs are displayed live on a monitor. The patient may descend into lost consciousness or cardiac arrest where CPR is needed. The SimMan software records the CPR and measures taken by students to revive the patient. Beyond the bells and whistles, students agree that nurses communicating the patient’s status during treatment is the key to care.
“The pressure is there to bring that simulation patient back to life,” said student John Metheny, who left his career in the banking industry to pursue nursing. “I’m sure it is different in person, but it is as close as we are going to get until we are in that situation.”
A new cohort of Nursing students will graduate from the program this spring. The program’s annual pinning ceremony will be conducted on May 7. After that, the NCLEX exam is administered to graduates pursuing their licensure as registered nurses.
For these students, COVID has not changed their dedication or determination. Pandemics happen. Technology changes how we live. The role of the nurse remains the same.
“Our job is to care for people,” said student Cody Webb. “No matter what the problem is.”
Share this:
Like this: