PS Fayette nursing instructors using virtual technology
Abigail Bradley Rash (left) a fourth-year nursing student at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus from Lake Lynn and Megan Roche, a fourth-year student from Uniontown get accustomed to the headsets which are part of the virtual reality technology used to simulate clinical situations.
Nursing students Ben Witt (left), a fourth-year student from Markleysburg, and Madelyn Albright, a fourth-year student from White use virtual reality software in nursing classes at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus.
Of course, there still are mannequins on hand to be used for the nursing classes as well.
FOR HERALD STANDARD Learning by doing provides invaluable experience, even if the “doing” is in the virtual realm.
To supplement classroom education and give nursing students a head start honing their skills, Penn State Fayette professors have turned to virtual reality technology.
“This gives them that simulated safe experience,” said Valerie Vanderhoff, an assistant teaching professor in the nursing department at The Eberly Campus. “This is easier for them to use and it’s relatable to them. This gets them in there and they can work with a patient who is in distress, and they have a plethora of decisions they are faced with. They have to show clinical judgment in order to get the best outcomes for the patient.”
Equipped with headsets that transport them to an emergency department, students get the chance to simulate clinical situations with a patient, performing tasks they will do in the field, like drawing blood or checking blood pressure
Vanderhoff said she starting using virtual reality technology to help supplement clinical hours for students in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We had a lot of students who struggled to get clinical experience,” explained Shannon Sankey, social media strategist at the campus. “(Vanderhoff) has been working pretty tirelessly to install (virtual reality) in our nursing program, particularly in the clinical setting. Instead of always bringing students into an emergency department and working through exercises there, we can actually simulate that environment using virtual technology.”
The students recently used the virtual technology for the first time and we’re anxious to apply it to the practice of nursing.
“I feel more engaged in the activity than just sitting in your chair in the classroom,” said Abigail Bradley-Rash, a fourth-year student from Lake Lynn. “You feel like you are able to touch anything. I’m hoping to be able to actually practice health care stuff like passing meds. I think this will give us more confidence.”
The virtual reality technology also is helping the students learn more about JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversion and Inclusion) as they proceed in their studies. Vanderhoff explained there are a number of topics which the students explore under this umbrella, such as marginalized immigrants, spectrum disorder, homelessness and LGBTQ issues.
“They come in and watch two to three videos on different topics,” she said. “That just gives them a look at things from a different perspective, or maybe reinforces what they understood of the topic.”
Nursing has become quite a popular program at the Fayette campus since the first bachelor of science in nursing cohort graduated in the spring of 2018. There are about 100 students in the program.
A number of clinical partnerships have been established in the region. Nursing students even administered COVID vaccines during the pandemic.
“We’re sending nurses into a lot of environments,” Sankey said. “We’re working toward getting different software in the future, a little more expensive, but a little bit more skills-based for the nurses, really hard skills that they can start before they go into the patient setting. The plan is to expand the virtual software here for the nursing program and beyond.”