How Augustana University nursing students learn skills from simulations and mannequins

Augustana University’s nursing program has some new faces and new simulation equipment thanks to a $440,000 grant it received last fall.

That grant, from the U.S. Economic Development Administration through the Economic Adjustment Assistance Program, allowed AU to purchase 10 new mannequins, procedural trainers, diagnostic equipment and more, enabling the nursing program to replace aging equipment and double the university’s amount of nursing simulation equipment when the materials arrived this summer.

The mannequins include a diversity of male and female patients, a diversity of skin tones and a diversity of ages from an infant, a pediatric patient about age 7, adults and a geriatric patient, simulation learning director Beth Karel said.

Part of the equipment also includes ultrasound technology, which pairs with the launch of AU’s graduate nursing program last fall, Karel explained.

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Simulation learning is a major part of AU’s nursing program, and gives students chances to work hands-on, to replicate reality in a practice setting and to make mistakes, so they don’t happen in a real hospital setting, Karel explained.

By the time a undergraduate receives their bachelor of science degree in nursing, AU estimates they’ve spent more than 160 hours in a lab or simulation to prepare for acute care in a hospital setting, according to a press release.

Students like Angelina Chan, a 20-year-old junior nursing major from Malaysia, said she appreciates learning hands-on because it’s different than learning from a textbook. Chan said the mannequins in particular are advanced and programmed to breathe, have a heartbeat and let students practice how they would interact with a real patient.

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Jonathan Beek, a 21-year-old junior nursing major from Inwood, Iowa, said his experience being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in fourth grade inspired him to go into nursing because he wanted to give back the care he received during that diagnosis.

Aaron Heger, a 20-year-old junior nursing major from Bemidji, Minnesota, said he chose nursing because it’s centered on service to other people, one-on-one, with empathy and a “spirit-to-spirit connection.”

Mya Drager, a 20-year-old junior nursing major from Sioux Falls, said nursing simulations at AU have taught her skills like inserting intravenous fluids, catheters and nasogastric tubes into patients as well as giving flu shots. She currently works at a daycare and became interested in nursing because she wants to help others, especially children.

AU gives great hands-on experiences, professors are willing to help students, and it’s a judgment-free learning environment, Drager added.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Augustana University nursing students learn skills in simulation