Grant Gives Nursing Students Access to Interactive Simulations  

Earlier this year, the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey (HFNJ) awarded Seton Hall's College of Nursing a grant to purchase the i-Human Patients platform for training nurse practitioner students. i-Human Patients, a cloud-based multimedia case authoring and playback system owned and operated by Kaplan, virtually simulates a complete patient encounter including history taking, physical examinations, formulation of a differential diagnosis, and ordering and evaluation of diagnostic tests. 
 
"This product will enhance the online nurse practitioner competency-based curriculum and help prepare nurse practitioner students for practice," said College of Nursing Dean Marie Foley, Ph.D. 
 
i-Human Patients has a library of over 350 cases to practice from, with integrated learning through lessons, quizzes and exercises. Students have already reported that they "liked the ability to focus on the patient versus all the usual distractions." Another indicated how helpful it was in "providing virtual insight into 'real-life' scenarios," and found that the "takeaways from the scenarios will be helpful in clinical practice in regard to proficiency and diagnosis."

Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research Kathleen Neville, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN added, "This pedagogical approach will provide students with enhanced remote opportunities to increase technological skills and practice diagnostic skills, decision-making and clinical reasoning in a simulated environment to prepare students for healthcare delivery in an increasingly complex technological healthcare systems."
 
In addition, the grant allowed the College to purchase respiratory and intubation equipment that provide better visualization of the larynx for use in the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program.

"We were pleased to receive the grant award which allowed us to further integrate simulation into the nurse practitioner curriculum," said Joyce Maglione, Ph.D., APRN, associate professor and director of the Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Program. "All students trained so far on the respiratory equipment demonstrated proficiency and the i-Human video simulation was well received by all nurse practitioner students." Both Neville and Maglione are the principal investigators for this grant. 
 
Giving Back to the Community
HFNJ operates on a quarterly grant-making cycle, providing funds to improve the health and well-being of vulnerable populations in the greater Newark and Jewish Greater MetroWest communities. All awards from HFNJ were in support of new projects, and many awards were given to organizations receiving their first-ever grant from HFNJ.  

A significant initiative in the College of Nursing has been the focus on graduate nurse training to address the underserved in the City of Newark through the awards of several federal grants, including the $3.6 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration and the $450,000 grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 

"HFNJ is pleased to provide funding for critical projects that will support residents in the greater Newark area, especially grants that will help train the next generation of healthcare workers, who are in short supply and are vitally needed as communities recover from the pandemic," said Michael Schmidt, executive director and CEO of the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

Categories: Education, Health and Medicine