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By Kate Hunger 

First-year respiratory care student, Raven Hargrove recently got a sense of what it will be like to work on a team caring for pediatric patients with tracheostomies. 

Hargrove participated in a program that pairs respiratory care students with School of Nursing students to perform patient simulations. The groups of students are divided into groups and assigned to one of two patient scenarios, said Respiratory Care Assistant Professor Thomas Stokes, Jr. M.A., RRT, respiratory care assistant professor: a 6-year-old patient with a tracheostomy or a baby experiencing seizures.

This experience offered her a chance to engage as an interprofessional student, Hargrove said, describing how her group shared their own perspectives and knowledge with each other before and during their simulation.

“We jumped into action when the patient started to desat(urate),” she said. “My group worked together really well.”

The simulation series for this semester began Jan. 30 and ends March 27. First-year respiratory care students are required to participate, said  Kristina Ramirez, MPH, RRT, CHES, assistant professor and director of clinical education for the Division of Respiratory Care.

“The purpose of the School of Nursing simulation with Respiratory Care is for the students to get a good experience to understand what it is like to work in a team in real life,” Ramirez said. “It’s a good way to learn how important it is for each of us to know each other’s role in an emergency situation.” 

Respiratory care students rotate through the simulations on Wednesdays, she said. Each simulation session is preceded by a briefing and role assignment.

“We’ll break up and go to the simulation room and go over respiratory equipment,” said 

The experience is a rich learning opportunity, Stokes said, noting that the simulation is followed up with a debriefing to enable students to identify what they did well and ways to improve in the future.

“We stress that this is a learning environment,” he said.

Hargrove said the School of Nursing simulation center was very realistic.

“It was a great experience,” she said.