Nursing Simulation Center receives full accreditation
Over the summer, the Maverick Family Nursing Simulation Program received full accreditation with specialization in teaching and education from the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH).
According to the SSH website, the accreditation shows “the gold standard in healthcare simulation.” While the simulation has been around for years, Workforce Simulation Director Kate Glogowski said receiving the recognition means staff and faculty hold themselves to high standards.
“Our students benefit because they’re practicing in one of the best simulation centers in this area. Also, when our workforce partners come into the center, they are aware that we are meeting best practices, not only for our students, but also for anybody that comes here for training,” Glogowski said.
A standard simulation day starts with students researching the topic followed by a pre-briefing where they get an overview of the day’s events, a tour of the room they’ll be in and who will be doing what roles in the simulation. Some students participate, others observe and take notes in the observation room. Afterward, there’s a debrief session where students discuss what went well and what could be improved.
One of the ways MSU stands out from other universities is the use of evidence-based practice simulation. This includes providing a safe learning environment by informing students or workforce partners what will occur during the simulation and providing a framework for students to ask questions.
“We want our students and partners to understand this is where we make mistakes and are free to ask questions and not feel like they’re being judged or criticized in the space. We’re not picking apart what you’re doing. We’re providing feedback such as ‘How are we going to not only just treat the patient and follow all the best standards and procedures, but how are we going to educate the patient and their family along the way as well?’” Glogowski said.
The simulations change constantly as the center looks at the learning objectives students want to practice on and the budget for training and supplies. One of the grants the center is currently using is a job skills partnership focusing on surgical simulation and trauma care.
“This fall, we’ll be doing emergency C-sections when the patient will start in the OB suite and require an emergency C-section and end up in the surgical suite,” Glogowski said.
Academic Director of the Maverick Family Nursing Simulation Center Megan Dohm said simulations change due to holes in the curriculum and addressing problems related to different areas of the medical field.
“Last year, we added a school nurse scenario for nursing students where a student comes in with questions about sexual identity and transgender care and so the students have to have that kind of difficult conversation and provide the education to that individual,” Dohm said. “We developed four new simulations over the last year for SLP graduate students, one with a cognitive issue related to a fall, a brain injury, and they had to do an assessment with a not very compliant person.”
Glogowski said the center collaborates with partners on and off campus to help with their operations and bring new ideas. Recently, the center reached out to the engineering department for help with 3D printing materials.
“We ran an IUD insertion course with a physician here in town, and we needed to adapt one of our task trainers, so they were able to print and pour a mold to adapt that task trainer. They poured bleeding IV arms for Megan on the academic side, so that students in nursing can work on wound care too,” Glogowski said.
The center worked with a theater student to film videos for an asynchronous course over the summer. Glogowski said having humans involved with the center helps create realistic scenarios.
“To have the unique abilities of a theater student to make the nursing students feel they are working with a real-life patient is invaluable. Students like it better because they get nonverbal responses where mannequins don’t do that,” Glogowski said.
Feedback about the center doesn’t just come from students. Local doctors and nurses use the center for team-based communication and timing training.
Jason DeWitt is an OB/GYN at the Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato. His team has been using the simulation center for training for around five years. He said he was “very impressed” upon seeing the center for the first time.
“Having our staff be able to go to a place like the MSU simulation center lets them not focus on anything other than the education,” DeWitt said. “The center is so amazing in terms of equipment, space and the staff.”
DeWitt said the trainings they have done in the simulation center have been for postpartum hemorrhaging and shoulder dystocia. His team plans on doing an emergency C-section simulation later this fall. He said the trainings have been “essential” as OB/GYN’s revolve around a team of people.
“You have to have a well-functioning team of people who understand what’s going on with any particular patient, how the situation might change and what should you be doing in order to maximally take care of each patient,” DeWitt said. “I can be the most educated person ever, but if I don’t have a team of people around me who also know what to do, it’s still going to be bad care for that patient.”
Senior Elena Drake said she was “intimidated” seeing the simulation center for the first time.
“Even though it’s a safe space, your fellow classmates and teachers are still watching you,” Drake said. “I also thought it was a very unique aspect we get to experience here at MSU.”
Drake said one of the most beneficial simulations she’s participated in was in the obstetrics suite. Even though the simulation lasted several hours, it helped her get out of her comfort zone.
“This is an area where you don’t have real patients so when you go to clinicals, you can go ‘Oh, I can pull what I remember learning in that situation,’” Drake said.
Dohm said while the process is rigorous, gaining full accreditation meant they were “doing the right things” in the simulation world.
Since the simulation center opened, it has undergone changes. The number of students involved declined during the COVID pandemic, but during the fall of 2021, the growth of nursing students in the center rose 150%. Glogowski said she expects the center to admit more students in not just nursing, but also dietetics, athletic training and speech-language pathology.
Dohm said the center wants to expand its standardized patient program where live actors pretend to be the patient.
“Our simulations are expensive, so the more we can limit wear-and-tear on our mannequins, the longer we can make our resources go,” Dohm said.
Drake said when it comes to her education, the simulation center has been helpful with applying what she’s learned.
“It really gives you the skills you need as a nurse such as critical thinking and time management and working in a very fast-moving environment,” Drake said. “It’s good to put all those things together.”
The accreditation lasts through Dec. 31, 2029. Until then, the center is working on a strategic plan to improve simulation science and grow through forthcoming healthcare standards.
If you’re interested in keeping up with the simulation center, you can follow them @mavfamsim on Instagram and Maverick Family Nursing Simulation Center on Facebook. For those looking to get involved with the Standardized Patient Program, head to ahn.mnsu.edu for forms.
Caption: From left, Simulation Operations Coordinator Erica Mathis, Workforce Simulation Director Kate Glogowski and Academic Director of the Maverick Family Nursing Simulation Center Megan Dohm want students to feel comfortable learning in the center. (Emma Johnson/The Reporter)
Write to Emma.johnson.5@mnsu.edu