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Simulations Spell Success
for Students
Michelle Wydra never imagined she’d be able to do the kind of research she’s currently pursuing as an undergraduate nursing student. Her study examines whether experiencing interventions in restricted mobility suits – which simulate changes that come with aging – will improve sophomore nursing students’ attitudes toward and care of older adult and geriatric patients. Wydra’s access to the technology and sta at the Simulation Center of the Nursing Skills and Technology Center at LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing made her project possible.
“I had the idea, but I didn’t know what, if any, materials the nursing school had to help me do this,” explains Wydra, a BSN candidate set to graduate in May. “I met with Dr. [Alison] Davis, who opened up the Simulation Center to me for my research and guided me
to three simulation suits the Center had acquired, but had not had an opportunity to use until now. This is thousands of dollars of equipment I could not have procured otherwise.
Dr. Davis, along with my mentor
Dr. [Jean] Cefalu and Health Assessment course director Dr. [Marie] Adorno, helped me focus my research question and tighten up my research design. This helped me immensely both in designing the study and getting through the Institutional Review Board process.”
Student experiences like Wydra’s show why the Simulation Center is such
a critical contributor to the School
of Nursing’s mission. Its high-tech simulation equipment and dedicated sta help prepare nurses to function as generalists, advanced practitioners, educators, scholars and researchers who shape the delivery of nursing practice and education.
Its importance was recently recognized with a five-year accreditation in Teaching/Education from the Society for Simulation in Healthcare. It is the first and only simulation center in Louisiana to receive this accreditation.
14 LSU NURSING | WINTER 2018