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Revolutionary nursing training tool debuts at EMCC |
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Saturday, 06 June 2009 |
By SHEA STASKOWSKI
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Educators from every practical nursing program in the state were introduced Friday to a revolutionary nursing invention that will change the classroom forever — the METIman.
Nursing educators from across Mississippi gathered at East Mississippi Community College’s Golden Triangle campus for the second annual Mississippi Council of Directors of Practical Nursing Programs Retreat Friday.
The council of directors retreat was started as a way for nursing educators to gather together without students to discuss advances in nursing and network with each other to improve nursing in Mississippi.
METIman is a simulator that has all the basic function of a human for teaching the fundamentals of nursing practice.
It was created by nurses who knew the limitations of traditional simulators as a way to provide safe, hands-on teaching for the next generation of nurses.
METIman is a 6-foot-2, 100 pound dummy equipped with all the basic clinical features like heart beat, reactive pupils, blinking eyes, bowel sounds, blood pressure, tracheal features, airway secretions and all other basic human functions. It can be programmed to be any age, any physical condition, any illness and both anatomically correct genders.
“Health care education must change and simulation will play a central role in the education of tomorrow’s workers,” Texas Woman’s University nurse educator Judy Johnson-Russell said. Texas Woman’s University is one of five universities that have worked together over the years to create METIman and Johnson-Russell was able to use one of the models in her classroom this spring semester with impressive results.
“METIman really helped students with skills I had trouble teaching from a book,” Johnson-Russell said.
Students were able to simulate those skills on METIman without the fear of hurting a patient or doing something wrong.
The hands-on experience transformed the classroom, Johnson-Russell said, and she saw a notable improvement on test scores as the semester progressed.
“Take the best day you’ve had in clinicals and repeat it over and over again,” Johnson-Russell said. “That’s what METIman allows students to experience. They are able to practice something over and over until they are confident of themselves.”
Students are able to learn at their own pace, which allows them time for critical thinking and problem solving — things students don’t have time for when they are working with humans with real illnesses.
Like a human, METIman responds physiologically, so students get immediate feedback.
This results in confidence in the nursing student, which increases competence, Johnson-Russell explained.
“If something happens during clinicals that is different than the student expected, they are able to stop and work through it, which just isn’t possible when you’re working with a real human,” Johnson-Russell explained.
METIman comes with 20 simulated clinical experiences and a software program that functions on autopilot, similar to older versions of simulators, but now it reacts to the care provided by the students, so if they mess up, METIman will let them know.
He is hooked up to a laptop computer and the instructor simply inputs the procedures acted out by the students and METIman will respond accordingly. This allows them to make mistakes without effecting anything but the learning process of the student.
Johnson-Russell told a story about one of her students who failed to read METIman’s chart before she started her patient assessment. She administered a medicine to METIman that he was programmed to be allergic to, which resulted in his death. That student never forgets to check the chart anymore, Johnson-Russell recalled.
METIman can also cover several objectives at a time and allows several students to work on him simultaneously. One student can be administering an IV, while another is taking blood pressure, while yet another student checks vital signs.
“METIman is making one-skill-at-a-time learning obsolete,” Johnson-Russell sated.
After the presentation, the nursing educators got their chance to see METIman in action. Volunteers were selected to act as nursing students and METIman was programmed to have an asthma attack. The educators worked through the attack just like their students would in the classroom and they were able to fully understand the capabilities that METIman provides.
“I think it’s revolutionary,” Delta State teacher Jana McNutt said. “This will give students more opportunity to practice skills they just can’t learn from a book,” she added.
There are currently only three working METIman available, but they are scheduled to hit the market at the end of June. EMCC officials hope to add the METIman as part of their new registered nursing program that will start in January 2010.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 08 June 2009 )
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