Topics: College of Applied Sciences and Technology, Emerging Media
March 29, 2007
<b>As nursing students interact with lifelike, high-fidelity patient simulators, the treatment scenario is recorded through portable Mediasite equipment so professors can show students how their actions affect patients.</b>
Ball State is using innovative presentation recording technology to give its nursing students instant feedback during lifelike patient simulations.
Called Mediasite, the cutting-edge technology has enhanced the School of Nursing's on-campus and distance education courses. Mediasite allows nursing professors to record students' interaction with patient simulators, heightening their clinical decision-making skills, says Linda Siktberg, director of the School of Nursing.
As the students interact with SimMan or SimBaby — lifelike, high-fidelity patient simulators — the treatment scenario is recorded through portable Mediasite equipment. Once the procedures are complete, they can be immediately played back and discussed. Professors can easily pinpoint a segment of the session and show students how their actions affect patients' responses.
"Implementing this new technology enhances the level of classroom and clinical-setting instruction, which ultimately augments the School of Nursing's and Ball State's reputation as a technology leader," she said.
Using the portable Mediasite equipment has proven to be a cost-effective solution to improving student performance. Using traditional audiovisual equipment would have cost more than $200,000 for each simulator. The two portable stations and subsequent memory upgrade to run Mediasite cost less than $40,000, Siktberg added.
The Mediasite equipment can also be used to archive video clips that demonstrate various medical requirements, such as how to assess heart rates. The School of Nursing now has more than 150 simulations, lectures, skills and tutorial recordings, which can be repurposed for distance education.
"This technology changes our online and Web-enhanced courses from hypertext format to a multimedia presentation, including audio and visual dimensions, which will greatly enhance our already successful distance courses," Siktberg said.
Currently there are 12 undergraduate courses and four graduate courses using the technology. In the future, the goal is to have a Mediasite recorder and camera with every bed and patient simulator. The cameras would then be monitored from a central control room.
"It was the creative thinking of the University Teleplex, the Office of Teaching and Learning Advancement and the School of Extended Education, who coordinate Mediasite for Ball State, that really made this work," said Kay Hodson-Carlton, nursing professor. "Once they saw our unique instructional need, they all came together to provide a great solution. We would have been hard-pressed to come up with something like this on our own."