Us
Print
E-mail
Rate
Health from the heart
 |
| Barbara Mathis (left) watches as Tammy Morse checks the lungs of a human patient simulator at Lake City Community College Wednesday morning. The simulator is used to teach the nurses how to handle certain cases in a controlled environment. ‘You can’t get more realistic than this,’ Morse said. JASON MATTHEW WALKER/Lake City Reporter |
Realistic simulators assist LCCC students with classroom work.
By MICHAEL MITSEFF
mmitseff@lakecityreporter.com
There has never been a better time to be a nurse.
The enrollment, the potential students eyeing the Lake City Community College nursing program and the placement statistics for new graduates all support the
In as little as one year, a Lake City Community College nursing student can become a licensed practical nurse. With an additional year of study, a graduate with a two-year registered nurse degree can be afforded even more opportunity.
Once a career in nursing is chosen, the options are almost endless, and considering the ongoing national nursing shortage, jobs are plentiful, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). An estimated 1.2 million RNs nationwide will be required to fill new nursing positions between now and 2014 — about 285 new nurses every day for the next six years, according to the BLS.
“We are fortunate that our nursing programs have the advanced equipment that we have,” said Mattie Jones, LCCC director of nursing programs. “It’s because Dr. Abraham Pallas (executive director of allied health programs) wrote the grants that allowed the school to buy the cutting-edge equipment.”
Hands-on training
The human patient simulation lab is one such piece of “cutting-edge” equipment and features an advanced computerized “live” mannequin that can exhibit numerous diseases and complaints, depending on the material the student’s are studying, said Peggy Riley, simulator-lab instructor.
The human simulator can interact with the student nurses, but the “patient’s” voice is really that of Dr. Mary Hill, professor and coordinator of the simulation lab.
Hidden behind a reflective two-way mirror with a microphone and a script, Hill interacts with the students verbally as well as physically animating the “patient.”
Each script, or scenario, is the patient’s history detailing a particular health problem suffered by the “patient,” Hill said.
She then plays the part of a typical hospitalized human, exhibiting human emotions that match the scenario and answering the students questions, as they try to determine how best to help their ill patient.
“The students are given the scenario’s in advance and they have to do preparatory work to learn about the disease,” Hill said. “So they have spent hours researching the disease.”
Hill said the idea is to think of all the challenges a new nurse would face and to recreate that situation so that it can be experienced and then discussed, so when a new nurse is faced with that situation or a similar situation in a live setting, he or she is better prepared.
“The idea behind patient simulation is that we’re able to recreate events that happen in a hospital, working with patients,” Hill said.
Fortunately, the Florida Board of Nursing has approved the substitution of human patient
simulation for 25 percent of the students’ clinical experience, Jones said.
In addition to the patient simulator, LCCC has a nursing skills lab that has the look and feel of an eight-bed hospital ward, complete with mannequin “patients” in each bed.
These patients are not the sophisticated human patient simulator, but a mannequin that still allows the students hands-on experience.
“The students practice dressing changes, putting in catheters, tracheotomy care and give injections, in addition to other typical bedside patient care,” said Melody Corso, practical nursing program coordinator.
The college recently added a birthing simulator to allow students to accumulate difficult to acquire obstetric clinical hours and hands-on experience.
“Clinical obstetric rotations are extremely difficult to come by,” Corso said. “The simulator will allow the students to get up to 25 percent of their required clinical hours in the lab.”
Nursing degree programs can include up to 650 clinical hours, so the 25 percent earned using the simulators could be equal to 162 clinical hours, Corso said.
“The new birthing simulator will help train the students to assist with live births,” said Corso. “We’re also going to outfit a labor and delivery room complete with bassinets.
“We hope to start birthing simulations and postpartum care soon.”
So that students can acquire the necessary clinical hours, LCCC has affiliation agreements with three local hospitals and hospitals in Gainesville and Valdosta, plus local long-term care facilities and many physicians’ offices and clinics, Jones said.
“I’m in the LPN program,” said Jennifer Harvey, student practical nurse. “It’s an 11-month program that started in January, but this is our first real simulation with the mannequin.
“I think the simulation is really good as far as getting the actual interaction between us and the ‘patient.’
Harvey plans to ultimately continue her education until she earns a four-year BSN RN degree.
The simulated patient responds to questions from the students and does every thing a real human patient would do, except die.
“The mannequin gives us an understanding of what the patient feels because we have someone acting as the patient,” Harvey said, referring to Hill.
For LPN student Tammy R. Morse, becoming a nurse is more of an emotional decision than anything else.
“Nursing is my passion,” Morse said. “I’ve wanted to be a nurse since I was a child.
“It’s not a matter of LPN or RN for me, it’s a matter of nursing; I have a passion to work with patients.”
Nursing students come from all walks of life and occupations, but many if not all of the students have a passion to make a difference, feel that they are contributing.
John Becker has worked as a cook in many restaurants and in Alaska, but in the back of his mind, nursing as a career was ever present.
“I’ve always liked to help people. My mom was an RN and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” said the Fort White resident and RN student. “So when the opportunity became available, I took it.”
Becker said that he reached a point in his working life that he was able to return to school and pursue his dream of becoming a nurse, and that he would like to work for Lake City Medical Center after graduation.
According to Pallas, many of the nursing students already have jobs waiting for them when they graduate and others are hired shortly after graduation, which serves to underline the demand for nurses that has been building for the past decade.
A passionate group
“Nurses love what they do,” said Leslie Homsted, RN, and director of professional practice advocacy for the Florida Nurses Association.
“Money is not the driving force, it’s the work environment that matters most.
“Can I take care of my patient’s the way they deserve? Do I have the support of the hospital administration? Do I practice in a safe environment? Those concerns are as important as salary for most nurses.”
LCCC sees many students interested in joining the program.
Jones said that of 135 applicants for the nursing program, only 60 are accepted annually.
“Students are selected based on pertinent GPA of nursing pre- and co-requisite classes,” Jones said.
“Also, either heath care experience or an agreement from the applicant to volunteer in health care for at least 50 hours is required.”
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the industries that employ the highest number of RNs include: General medical and surgical hospitals; physician’s offices; home health care services, nursing care facilities and employment services.
Big money available
In 2007, the average hourly wage earned by a RN was $30.04, with a low of $20 to a high of $42 hourly, according to the BLS.
Top paying states include, California, Massachusetts, Hawaii, New Jersey and Maryland. States that employ the highest concentration of RNs include, South Dakota, Massachusetts, West Virginia, Maine and Mississippi.
Among the top four metropolitan areas that employ the highest numbers of registered nurses and that also pay the highest wages are Gainesville, Dothan, Ala., Cumberland Md.-W. Va. and Lima, Ohio.
The FNA says that salaries vary depending on the locale, but the average starting salary for a new nurse in Florida in acute care, ranges from an average of about $15 hourly and salaries increase with experience.
The salary range of an advanced registered nurse practitioner ARNP can range from $45,000 to more than $90,000, generally, according to the report. Salaries of nurse administrators are comparable to ARNP salaries.
Currently, there are between 2.5 and 3 million RNs employed across the country.
RNs lead the nation as the most in-demand profession. Post secondary, elementary and middle school teachers are running a close second.
Interested?
Director of Nursing Programs, Mattie Jones
(386) 758-4368 or
jonesm@lakecitycc.edu
The enrollment, the potential students eyeing the Lake City Community College nursing program and the placement statistics for new graduates all support the
In as little as one year, a Lake City Community College nursing student can become a licensed practical nurse. With an additional year of study, a graduate with a two-year registered nurse degree can be afforded even more opportunity.
Once a career in nursing is chosen, the options are almost endless, and considering the ongoing national nursing shortage, jobs are plentiful, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). An estimated 1.2 million RNs nationwide will be required to fill new nursing positions between now and 2014 — about 285 new nurses every day for the next six years, according to the BLS.
“We are fortunate that our nursing programs have the advanced equipment that we have,” said Mattie Jones, LCCC director of nursing programs. “It’s because Dr. Abraham Pallas (executive director of allied health programs) wrote the grants that allowed the school to buy the cutting-edge equipment.”
Hands-on training
The human patient simulation lab is one such piece of “cutting-edge” equipment and features an advanced computerized “live” mannequin that can exhibit numerous diseases and complaints, depending on the material the student’s are studying, said Peggy Riley, simulator-lab instructor.
The human simulator can interact with the student nurses, but the “patient’s” voice is really that of Dr. Mary Hill, professor and coordinator of the simulation lab.
Hidden behind a reflective two-way mirror with a microphone and a script, Hill interacts with the students verbally as well as physically animating the “patient.”
Each script, or scenario, is the patient’s history detailing a particular health problem suffered by the “patient,” Hill said.
She then plays the part of a typical hospitalized human, exhibiting human emotions that match the scenario and answering the students questions, as they try to determine how best to help their ill patient.
“The students are given the scenario’s in advance and they have to do preparatory work to learn about the disease,” Hill said. “So they have spent hours researching the disease.”
Hill said the idea is to think of all the challenges a new nurse would face and to recreate that situation so that it can be experienced and then discussed, so when a new nurse is faced with that situation or a similar situation in a live setting, he or she is better prepared.
“The idea behind patient simulation is that we’re able to recreate events that happen in a hospital, working with patients,” Hill said.
Fortunately, the Florida Board of Nursing has approved the substitution of human patient
simulation for 25 percent of the students’ clinical experience, Jones said.
In addition to the patient simulator, LCCC has a nursing skills lab that has the look and feel of an eight-bed hospital ward, complete with mannequin “patients” in each bed.
These patients are not the sophisticated human patient simulator, but a mannequin that still allows the students hands-on experience.
“The students practice dressing changes, putting in catheters, tracheotomy care and give injections, in addition to other typical bedside patient care,” said Melody Corso, practical nursing program coordinator.
The college recently added a birthing simulator to allow students to accumulate difficult to acquire obstetric clinical hours and hands-on experience.
“Clinical obstetric rotations are extremely difficult to come by,” Corso said. “The simulator will allow the students to get up to 25 percent of their required clinical hours in the lab.”
Nursing degree programs can include up to 650 clinical hours, so the 25 percent earned using the simulators could be equal to 162 clinical hours, Corso said.
“The new birthing simulator will help train the students to assist with live births,” said Corso. “We’re also going to outfit a labor and delivery room complete with bassinets.
“We hope to start birthing simulations and postpartum care soon.”
So that students can acquire the necessary clinical hours, LCCC has affiliation agreements with three local hospitals and hospitals in Gainesville and Valdosta, plus local long-term care facilities and many physicians’ offices and clinics, Jones said.
“I’m in the LPN program,” said Jennifer Harvey, student practical nurse. “It’s an 11-month program that started in January, but this is our first real simulation with the mannequin.
“I think the simulation is really good as far as getting the actual interaction between us and the ‘patient.’
Harvey plans to ultimately continue her education until she earns a four-year BSN RN degree.
The simulated patient responds to questions from the students and does every thing a real human patient would do, except die.
“The mannequin gives us an understanding of what the patient feels because we have someone acting as the patient,” Harvey said, referring to Hill.
For LPN student Tammy R. Morse, becoming a nurse is more of an emotional decision than anything else.
“Nursing is my passion,” Morse said. “I’ve wanted to be a nurse since I was a child.
“It’s not a matter of LPN or RN for me, it’s a matter of nursing; I have a passion to work with patients.”
Nursing students come from all walks of life and occupations, but many if not all of the students have a passion to make a difference, feel that they are contributing.
John Becker has worked as a cook in many restaurants and in Alaska, but in the back of his mind, nursing as a career was ever present.
“I’ve always liked to help people. My mom was an RN and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” said the Fort White resident and RN student. “So when the opportunity became available, I took it.”
Becker said that he reached a point in his working life that he was able to return to school and pursue his dream of becoming a nurse, and that he would like to work for Lake City Medical Center after graduation.
According to Pallas, many of the nursing students already have jobs waiting for them when they graduate and others are hired shortly after graduation, which serves to underline the demand for nurses that has been building for the past decade.
A passionate group
“Nurses love what they do,” said Leslie Homsted, RN, and director of professional practice advocacy for the Florida Nurses Association.
“Money is not the driving force, it’s the work environment that matters most.
“Can I take care of my patient’s the way they deserve? Do I have the support of the hospital administration? Do I practice in a safe environment? Those concerns are as important as salary for most nurses.”
LCCC sees many students interested in joining the program.
Jones said that of 135 applicants for the nursing program, only 60 are accepted annually.
“Students are selected based on pertinent GPA of nursing pre- and co-requisite classes,” Jones said.
“Also, either heath care experience or an agreement from the applicant to volunteer in health care for at least 50 hours is required.”
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the industries that employ the highest number of RNs include: General medical and surgical hospitals; physician’s offices; home health care services, nursing care facilities and employment services.
Big money available
In 2007, the average hourly wage earned by a RN was $30.04, with a low of $20 to a high of $42 hourly, according to the BLS.
Top paying states include, California, Massachusetts, Hawaii, New Jersey and Maryland. States that employ the highest concentration of RNs include, South Dakota, Massachusetts, West Virginia, Maine and Mississippi.
Among the top four metropolitan areas that employ the highest numbers of registered nurses and that also pay the highest wages are Gainesville, Dothan, Ala., Cumberland Md.-W. Va. and Lima, Ohio.
The FNA says that salaries vary depending on the locale, but the average starting salary for a new nurse in Florida in acute care, ranges from an average of about $15 hourly and salaries increase with experience.
The salary range of an advanced registered nurse practitioner ARNP can range from $45,000 to more than $90,000, generally, according to the report. Salaries of nurse administrators are comparable to ARNP salaries.
Currently, there are between 2.5 and 3 million RNs employed across the country.
RNs lead the nation as the most in-demand profession. Post secondary, elementary and middle school teachers are running a close second.
Interested?
Director of Nursing Programs, Mattie Jones
(386) 758-4368 or
jonesm@lakecitycc.edu
 |
 |
|
| Federal suit filed for alleged religious discrimination | Florida considers greenhouse gas limits |
