Service Learning wk 8 Story of Engagement

Service Learning wk8: The Story of Engagement

My service learning site is a long term care facility in a small town in rural W.V.  It is a 60 bed facility with 4 LPN’s and 4RN’s and about 100 people employed in all.  The facility is mainly Medicaid /Medicare funded.  Most of their residents are local and have lived near or under the poverty guidelines most of their lives.  Their logo is “small enough to know you/large enough to serve you”.  I am working at present with the DON a young woman who is new to this job and a fairly new graduate BSN.  She is now working on her Masters degree in administration.  The long term care facility has not always had a reputation of good care. This new DON is diligently working on training her staff to better quality standards, and to change the communities’ idea of their quality of care.

 My service in working with her is to determine if she would like to employ the method of high fidelity simulation lab experiences for her staff in training or reinforcing training or competency testing.  In our initial talks she is very interested.  I feel that our department has recently been given a gift to start to fund this lab and living in a small rural area means that none of the health care facilities, hospitals, nursing homes or clinics, are able to afford such technology to be used in staff training.  The idea is to share our “wealth” of a simulation lab and experiences with others in our community.

 The DON is unfamiliar with simulation labs.  My first meeting was to describe the facilities and possibilities for use of the technology for her agency.  I am currently working on putting together information about high fidelity simulation, exploring articles about its use with CNA’s and other nursing staff to share with her.  We plan to see the lab and I will be making a presentation in her Masters level class about simulation upon request from her professor.  The clients in this service project are twofold.  The first client is the DON, nursing staff and nursing assistants that need training opportunities to help optimize their care abilities.  The second client is the elderly frail residents within the facilities care.

 I feel that with use of our sims lab in this project we can better train these employees and affect better patient care.   What calls me to work with this community partner is the fact that this new administrator is trying to make a difference in the lives of her staff and their patients.  I believe our intervention of providing an enhanced learning environment and our expertise is education and technology (simulation) can impact the staffs’ competencies and in turn impact patient care.

 My passion for this service is that I believe when we more experienced nurses see a newer nurse working hard, struggling to find their nitch in nursing and make a difference.  It is our responsibility and obligation to mentor and nurture those that we encounter.  That is what through this service project I feel I am doing.  I have hopes that this is just the beginning for this partnership to build an on- going relationship that encourages the facility and the staff within it to have the abilities to give better patient care.  I started my nursing career in a nursing home at 16 years of age training to be a nurse’s aide.  Through that experience it sparked my desire to become a nurse.  In that experience I met a NP giving care in that nursing home who inspired me to give each and every patient the best care that I could and to dream bigger and to go for my nursing degree.  Perhaps utilizing high fidelity simulation experiences will enhance staff learning.  And a plus would be to by chance inspire or empower someone else to give the best care that they can and to reach for the stars and continue in their education.

My role in this service project is a facilitator. It will be giving information, teaching, and utilizing our simulation lab to enhance staff training.  That training will enhance patient care.  In the long term I would hope this service project to be successful with this facility and then to offer these same services to other facilities within our community.  Thus growing the service throughout our community.

To date I have spent 5 hours in service learning.  One hour in the initial meeting and discussion of the service project.  Three hours in researching information and articles to give to and discussions of options to use the simulation lab for nursing assistants and other nursing staff.  And a hour meeting discussed information found and looking at the possibility of using simulation as part of training or annual updating  of competencies for her staff.