Nursing

Nursing students at Fairfield University in Fairfield, CT, are in their first year of simulation instruction using a robotic model known as SimMan, according to a recent article in The New York Times. Instructors can test students by, for example, crashing the model's blood pressure, making an IV quit working and starting a new peripheral line impossible, and giving it an asthma attack. The simulation training can boost students' confidence, said nursing professor Sheila Grossman, RN, PhD, APRN-BC. In situations where past students often would prefer to watch their preceptors perform certain tasks, current students frequently want to do the job themselves, she said.