Virtual Clinical Excursions 1.0 to Accompany Basic Nursing

VIRTUAL CLINICAL EXCURSIONS – VERSION 1.0

The Virtual Clinical Excursions 1.0 CD-ROM contains a simulated hospital with five real patients on a medical-surgical nursing floor. The students are able to “visit” each of the patients and access and evaluate realistic information resources essential for patient care. Information resources in the virtual hospital include: charts, medical administration records, electronic patient records, video streaming of patient dialogue with nurses and other related materials. These virtual hospital resources provide an opportunity for the student to assess and analyze information, make a nursing diagnosis, draw conclusions and then plan, implement and evaluate care. The student also has access to the virtual hospital’s Website and an on-line medical library.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

An IBM-Compatible Computer, with a Pentium II processor (or equivalent) and a minimum processor speed of 300 MHz, 96 MB (minimum) or RAM, 800x600 screen size, thousands of colors, 100 MB hard drive space, 12x CD-ROM drive, Soundblaster 16 Soundcard compatible, stereo speakers or headphones, running Windows 95/98/NT 4SP5/2000 Operating System.

An Apple Power PC G3 with a minimum processor speed of 300 MHz, 96 MB
(minimum) of RAM, 800x600 screen size, thousands of colors, 100 MB hard drive
space, 12x CD-ROM drive, stereo speakers or headphones, running MAC OS 9.04.

Detailed Features:

The Student:
• spends a week in a virtual medical-surgical unit with five patients;
• participates in clinical rotations, examining the patients’ data;
• learns about the complexities of patient care as the patient data changes from day to day.

The Learning Environment:
• has multiple information sources that can be examined and evaluated to understand how and why care is implemented in a particular health-illness transition;
• has meaningful real world problems that places the student in nursing scenarios where she can set priorities for care, collect data, analyze and interpret data, and reach conclusions about complex problems within a health-illness transition.

The Workbook:
• student becomes an active learner through patient care activities and data review;
• student has the opportunity to explore findings within the context of the workbook’s perspective and educational goals.

Innovative Attributes:
• simulations through which students can move and conduct patient care;
• complex problems require use of multiple perspectives and diverse databases;
• multi-system studies of patients;
• information infrastructure for studying complex problems;
• data generators mimic natural variation in human systems;
• multi-cultural exercises that break stereotyping.

The Patients:
The selection of patients is based on a careful review of hospital discharge data published by the Center for Disease Control (CDC). The patients include:
• Carmen Gonzalez – Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2
An older Hispanic female patient with an infected leg that has become gangrenous. She has Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, as well as complications of congestive heart failure and osteomyelitis.
• David Ruskin – Motor Vehicle Accident
Following a car-bicycle accident, a young adult African American male is admitted with a possible closed head injury and a badly fractured right humerus. He undergoes an open reduction and internal fixations of the right humerus.
• Sally Begay – Respiratory Infection
A Native American woman enters the hospital and is initially suspected to have a Hanta Virus infection. She has a confirmed diagnosis of bacterial lung infection. This client’s complications include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and also has inactive tuberculosis.
• Ira Bradley – HIV-AIDS
A Caucasian adult male in late-stage HIV disease is admitted for an opportunistic respiratory infection. He has complications of oral fungal infection, malnutrition, and wasting. Patient-family interactions also provide opportunities to explore complex psychosocial problems.
• Andrea Wand – Spinal Cord Injury
A young Asian female enters the hospital after a diving accident in which T6 is crushed, with partial transaction of the spinal cord. After a week in the ICU, she has been transferred to the Medical-Surgical unit where she is being closely monitored.

Anne Griffin Perry, RN, MSN, EdD, FAAN is a Professor Emerita, School of Nursing, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, Illinois.

Patricia Stockert, RN, BSN, MS, PhD is the President of the College, Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing, Peoria, Illinois.

Patricia A. Potter, RN, MSN, PhD, FAAN is a Former Director of Research, Patient Care Services Barnes-Jewish Hospital St. Louis, Missouri.

Amy Hall, RN, BSN, MS, PhD, CNE, Professor and Dean, School of Nursing, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana