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USM nursing student Tracy Walton, of Auburn, amazed a group
of staff nurses at St. Mary's Hospital in Lewiston recently.
As she stood bedside with a patient during her clinical rotation,
she came across an unfamiliar diagnosis in the patient history.
"It was one of those words that is three-feet long," smiled
Walton.
Learning impossible Latin and 25-cent words are part and
parcel of any medical education, and in clinicals they usually
require a student to ask a nursing supervisor or excuse themselves
to consult Taber's Medical Dictionary. Walton just reached
into the pocket of her lab coat, flipped open a Personal Digital
Assistant (PDA), keyed in the word, and within seconds had
complete nursing reference materials in the palm of her hand.
"The staff at the hospital said, 'Wow, that's cool. We have
to get some of those,' " said Walton.
Walton, 26, is one of only a handful of nursing students
nationwide participating in a pilot program to introduce handheld
technology into undergraduate nursing curricula and practice.
LAC Assistant Professor Bonnie Cashin Farmer of the College
of Nursing and Health Professions wrote the faculty technology
grants that seeded the project to incorporate 17 PDAs into
LAC's nursing education program.
The "palm pilots" contain a comprehensive medical dictionary;
a nursing drug guide; a compendium of diseases, disorders
and nursing therapeutics; and RN diagnosis and interventions.
While approximately 35 percent of physicians nationwide use
PDAs, only about 10 percent of nurses are doing so, according
to a 2001 survey.
The palm pilot project is one of several initiatives that
is putting USM's undergraduate nursing programs in the forefront
of technology-assisted nursing education nationwide.
"We want to make sure that students have access at their
fingertips to current and accurate resources," says Jane Kirschling,
USM's Dean of the College of Nursing and Health Professions.
"I think we will see as the nursing workforce ages they will
look more for technological tools to help them stay at the
bedside longer."
At the Portland campus, undergraduate nursing students are
now learning nursing procedures and protocols with the help
of a state-of-the-art computerized, robotic mannequin. SimMan
--or Mr. Sim as he is called -- is equipped with a software
program that allows instructors to program simulated healthcare
situations such as cardiac arrest, choking, or an asthma attack.
Because of his robotic capabilities, students can see, hear,
and feel his responses: his chest rises and falls with the
sound of his breath; his pulse is palpable in several locations;
he can be programmed for speech; his arm accepts IV fluids.
His vital statistics are displayed on monitors and may change
depending on the student's adherence to healthcare protocols.
Best of all, he recovers from all diseases within 30 minutes.
"Students get an immediate reaction with Mr. Sim," notes
Associate Professor of Nursing Janis Childs. "It encourages
critical thinking and on-the-spot decision making, which can
be hard when you're new at nursing. That's good; that's what
real life is. You don't always have 15 minutes to look it
up."
Neither technology comes cheaply. Each PDA and its accompanying
software costs nearly $500. SimMan's pricetag was approximately
$30,000, which was partially underwritten by a grant. Kirschling
argues that they are investments with high return, both by
strengthening the quality of educational preparation the students
receive, and by speeding up their successful entry into a
demanding, changing profession.
"The pace of health care and of nursing for a novice provider
can be overwhelming," notes Kirschling. "We brought SimMan
into the lab to expose students to the complexity of patient
care before experiencing it in acute-care hospital environments.
The handhelds make the learning curve easier because students
get more time at the bedside. Our faculty have been very innovative
in terms of working with limited resources, not letting that
get in the way of moving forward and making the program stronger."
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