CHARLIE AND THE CSI FACULTY

Many times, as a nursing student, my peers and I joke about how we have plenty of experience practicing our skills…on a manikin.

But what many people may not know is that these manikins are more than just life-sized dolls.

UA Little Rock’s School of Nursing (SON) Center for Simulation Innovation (CSI) is home to highfidelity manikins that collect realtime information and simulate real-life scenarios.

Take Charlie for example, originally named CAE Aria by its manufacturer and the newest addition to the CSI lab.

The “birth” of Charlie was very significant in CSI. When renaming Charlie, SON faculty wanted current nursing students to have as much involvement as possible.

The naming contest began on social media, and resulted in over 30 name submissions. A survey was then sent to nursing students to choose from four gender-neutral names, as Charlie can be converted from a female to male manikin.

She also mimics many of the diseases, disorders and complications students will encounter in the hospital- or clinic-setting, and can even talk to students during a simulation (scenarios that reproduce clinical settings and situations).

Charlie is just a portion of what is involved during simulation as Joanna Hall, Director of Simulation and assistant professor, discussed the behind-the-scenes of the experience.

“We can only guarantee that you’ll get certain experiences to a certain degree in clinical,” she said.

“But we can guarantee that you get that down in simulation.”

Hall has witnessed just how much CSI has changed, from nursing instructors simulating manikin voices behind a curtain to now realtime data that provides feedback on what needs improvement.

SarahBeth Phillips, assistant professor and pediatric simulation faculty member, also joined in to discuss more about the simulation experience.

“Our goal is to prepare our students for what the real world is gonna look like. So through simulation, we have the opportunity to put our students in the role as the nurse, not a nursing student.”

Through simulation, students are able to test their skills and knowledge with that safety piece in play.

“It’s a learning experience where the student was able to start at a point, look and say, ‘Okay I’m either going to do this or I’m going to do this,’ and have to make a judgment call, which we do all the time,” she explained.

Excitement and awe was definitely expressed by these professors as they reflected on their own experiences in simulation. It was only 10 years ago when the “piece of the instructor behind the curtain” was still in place.

Now, almost every nursing course has a high-fidelity manikin. Not only is the new tech exciting, but Phillips cannot wait to see how much more it will add to the knowledge of each student that passes through.

“Having those different range of size manikins that produce and give the same assessment data is really going to change the way our students are learning.” Phillips explained that the information and research pulled from these manikins helps faculty “integrate or create scenarios to help our students fill those gaps.”

“To see how far we’ve come is really incredible,” said Hall. “Not only how far we’ve come in not even fifteen years and where we’re going.” The augmented reality and virtual reality components of these high-fidelity manikins are what she looks forward to seeing more of. The CSI environment also changes the game immensely. “There’s something really unique about what we have here.”

Faculty plays a major role in the CSI experience. Almost half of the associate degree faculty graduated from UA Little Rock’s SON. Since then, a simulation team has been curated from willing, humble and approachable nurses and instructors. “We know the anxiousness that comes from stepping into that hospital setting at that very first clinical, doing those very first skills,” shared Phillips. “I want to set you up for success.”

Students enrolled in the Accelerated Traditional program this summer will be the first to meet Charlie.

After that, every student that takes the Pediatrics Nursing course will meet her. From shots, IVs, foley catheters and blood administration, students are sure to encounter something they will take with them as they step forward into the role of a nurse.

This new tech allows students to build on critical thinking skills and instructors to actively observe student performance, which then produces more detailed feedback. Our instructors are ready for what’s to come as more tech leads to more grants, more opportunities and more growth.

BY VASTI HERNANDEZ