Tennessee Tech establishing a new clinical simulation team at the Whitson-Hester School of Nursing to manage laboratory operations and student training.
Director of Simulation Casey Garrison said the team formed following the conclusion of several interim roles and the transition of former staff into faculty positions.
“So having a facility inside the School of Nursing to help ensure that those students are getting as many at-bats,” Garrison said, “Or as much experience with real-time patient care, real-time interaction with other nurses and staff, it’s astronomically important.”
Garrison said the current roster includes a full-time lab coordinator and two lab specialists who bring varied clinical backgrounds in areas such as critical care and post-operative experience.
Garrison said the simulation team handles technical support for patient monitors and manages the daily setup and teardown of equipment for multiple lab sessions. The facility utilizes mid-fidelity mannequins for basic heart rate and blood pressure checks, as well as high-fidelity models that can cough, sweat, and speak.
“There’s lots of different opportunities for students to engage with a patient inside a safe space in the lab instead of having that first interaction or the first time that they’re doing a procedure or maybe even just starting an IV, in a safe location where they can feel successful without the fear of hurting someone or doing something incorrectly inside a clinical setting,” Garrison said.
Lab coordinator Amy Rhea said the team is currently managing a growing student population that reached 100 students in the sophomore class this year. Rhea said her role involves scheduling the hours for the simulation and fundamentals labs while reinforcing educational materials before students begin their scenarios.
“Nursing simulation is they go in and they are the nurse,” Rhea said. “They get to make those critical decisions, they get to act on those, they get to physically get to call the provider and tell the provider what’s going on and any recommendations that they might have.”
Rhea said the simulations are tailored to specific courses, ranging from managing diabetes and respiratory distress in junior years to heart attacks and strokes for seniors. The program culminates in a final simulation where the building is transformed into a 32-bed hospital to prepare students for time management and the role of a charge nurse.
“We have to have a strong team that’s unified and really believe in what we’re doing, that way we’re putting out the best nurses that we can,” Rhea said. “Making sure standards, because there are standards with simulation, making sure our standards are being followed, that way they’re receiving the best simulations that they possibly can get here.”
Rhea said she hopes to expand the program by collaborating with other university departments, including the art and engineering programs. The simulation team is already working with the human ecology department to help develop new lab experiences.
