School was not in session Tuesday, but that doesn’t mean everyone got out of class. Some 23 Glynn County school nurses attended an in-service session at the College of Coastal Georgia’s Hugh and Miriam Nunnally Health and Science Building on the Brunswick campus. This is the first time the college and school system have worked together on this type of project.
The college has several simulation, or “sim,” labs where nursing students and, in this case, professional nurses seeking to gain more knowledge can be exposed to a variety of scenarios through working with interactive, high-fidelity “patients.”
A far cry from the “dummies” of not too many years ago, these mannequins are programmable to reflect numerous conditions and illnesses.
Dr. Lydia Watkins, who holds a doctorate in nursing practice, is an assistant professor of nursing and the nursing (BSN) program coordinator. Her specialty is pediatrics.
Watkins said nursing students at the college perform some of their clinical hours with school nurses. She said Glynn County Lead School Nurse Lisa Morrison thought spending time in the “sim lab” would be interesting for school nurses.
The nurses were to work with three mannequins – Sim Jr., a child; Sim Baby, an infant and Sim Man, who on Tuesday was representing a teenager.
Because school nurses work with students from preschool to high school, the array of mannequins was necessary to introduce school-specific scenarios to the nurses. Watkins said that the session would be a learning experience for both college staff and the school nurses.
“They’ll break into groups and we’ll address the most common things they see in the school nurse arena,” Watkins said. “Our hospital scenarios wouldn’t be relevant.”
School nursing has evolved, said Watkins, and the hands-on experience of the Tuesday session will provide the school nurses with valuable tools.
“They deal with more chronic conditions,” she said. “There is more diabetes, more asthma and other health issues.”
Nurses at schools have to be quick on their feet, she said. They have to assess and make correct diagnoses.
“A stomach ache isn’t always just a stomach ache,” she said, explaining that sometimes a child might be hungry, has had a fight with a parent or is experiencing some other emotional or physical health problem that must be addressed.
Morrison, also the school nurse for St. Simons Elementary School, said the collaboration between the college and school system is a good thing.
“Nursing evolves and is constantly changing,” she said. “There are new techniques and new technologies we have to learn.”
“School health is our specialty.”
Evaluating Sim Baby are, from left, Beverly Rowe, MSN, associate professor of nursing, College of Coastal Georgia; Dr. Lydia Watkins, assistant professor of nursing, College of Coastal Georgia; Lisa Morrison, RN, lead school nurse for Glynn County Schools and school nurse at St. Simons Elementary School; Pamela Thompson, a one-on-one nurse for a student at Burroughs-Molette Elementary School; Cheri Tillman, LPN, school nurse at Brunswick High School; and Laura Cooper, RN, Needwood Middle School. Picture by Mary Starr, The Brunsick News.
The Brunswick News
MARY STARR