July 1 is traditionally when medical residents or physicians-in-training begin the first of multiple rotations in their journey to becoming fully licensed and independent healers. In preparation for this nationwide start line, Schoolcraft’s Nursing department is gearing up to train Emergency and Internal Medicine residents from St. Mary Mercy hospital and all residents from Garden City Hospital (GCH). These doctors of tomorrow will be able to use the Biomedical Technology Center’s recently updated simulation lab June 24, 26, and 30 with Emergency Medicine taking the first block, Garden City the second and Internal Medicine sliding into the final training slot.
Each of these sessions will entail a different simulation depending on the specialty and what the respective hospital wants incoming residents to know in terms of “basic training.” This can include training in Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) which is also known as “codes” in the medical world, standard delivery of babies and invasive procedures like IV lines and intubation for both adult and child patients.
“The goals of these sessions are for the residents to gain self-confidence, enhance their critical thinking skills, improve their hands-on skills and meet the required skill training for accreditation of their programs/learning,” said Simulation Lab Resource Instructor, Nancy Delnay.
According to Delnay, these training sessions are significant to Schoolcraft College because of the community relations it fosters and the renting fees for the lab also fund future upgrades for more realistic equipment.
Best of all, the simulation lab provides an environment for residents to make mistakes without endangering lives and to take the time needed to make appropriate decisions in any given situation. This is especially important since the mannequins in the simulation lab have many capabilities and emulate behaviors that real patients do.
“Our high-fidelity manikins can do almost everything that live people can do. This includes the ability to talk, breathe, sweat, drool, have seizures, cardiac arrhythmias, all normal and abnormal heart, lung and bowel sounds. They can also respond to interventions made by participants,” Delnay explained.
This year’s training will include the standard simulations but will be conducted differently due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its social distancing guidelines. As such, all residents are required to undergo a pre-screening before entering the Biomedical Technology Center (BTC) and proceeding to the simulation lab rooms.
The number of students per room is dependent upon the size, but the largest group that Schoolcraft will be accommodating in BTC 225 is a total of 16 people. In addition to these cautious measures, residents are not permitted to wear any clothing or footwear that has been inside the hospitals without washing them before their sessions.
Traffic flow will also be diverted with entry at BTC 215 and the exit at BTC 245. Masks will be worn by students and simulation staff at all times and all used equipment will be disinfected between groups. Finally, once all parties have completed their training the equipment will undergo a final disinfecting process to avoid any contamination of the campus.
“We are happy to help our community hospitals and partners with training. They choose to come to Schoolcraft due to the close proximity to the hospital and our state-of-the-art lab. We did not select them, they selected us,” Delnay concluded. “We’ll do everything possible to keep our guests and students healthy amid COVID-19.”
Anyone interested in learning more about Schoolcraft College’s simulation lab can visit schoolcraft.edu/health-professions-simulation-lab.
For more information about Schoolcraft’s nursing program, go to schoolcraft.edu/academics/healthcare-and-health-sciences/nursing.
Feature Image: First year Emergency Medicine Residents at Livonia’s St. Mary Mercy Hospital practice a medical scenario on a SIM lab patient on Wednesday, June 24, 2020. Photo courtesy of Schoolcraft College.