One thing I learned at our VINES exposure yesterday:
Never compromise the experience you can have into something lighter just to avoid or prevent frustrations. Let the worse comes to worst because with the worst, you will gain the best learning you can ever possess.- dianne
It’s just sad that some of the experience that I should have experienced was not met because (I don’t want to talk about it. Conflict just around the corner…LOL!) Maybe that experience will happen again years from now and it sucks (I feel our group {just the 6 of us} are the only ones who didn’t experience it). It’s so disappointing because I really want to experience everything into its fullest even if there are frustrations rather than experiencing a little with no frustrations (with the same learning) because it’s harder to accept the learning if you are not satisfied with your experience.
I thought what I know was enough to revive Hal but I was wrong. I let him die— well, our group let him die.
Our group was assigned to the FEU-VINES (Virtual Integrated Nursing Education Simulation) Laboratory for our duty on Acute Biologic Crisis concept and with this concept, we will going to simulate a cardio-pulmonary resuscitation to the mannequin named HAL. The scenario was, the client was coding (with our clinical instructor controlling his status) and we should revive him the best way we could according to what was taught to us.
During the simulation, we have given too much epinephrine to Hal without the interval of 3-5 minutes that made him more critical and so, still with constant compressing and hyperventilating, at times defibrillating, our clinical instructor just said, ok Post Mortem (meaning, we didn’t revived him.) Then, stopped and pronounced the time of death.
My critical mind tells me, “We we’re used to our AHSE (Associate in Health and Science Education) days to just assume things and not “really” do the procedure that is why we forgot to say “After 3 minutes blah blah blah…” which killed Hal. I learned that “To assume is a mortal sin.” Also, our adrenaline rush and increase of our excitatory neurotransmitters leads us to forgetting things. — That was I, using Rationalization.
Though Hal is just a mannequin, he was still my patient and I was frustrated because our efforts was not enough to revive him as much as we do want him to survive. (In VINES laboratory, mannequins are treated as “real” persons).
I was on mixed emotions because I felt like a real nurse (we are even called “junior nurses”) in that scenario but I was saddened by the fact that we didn’t revived him. I enjoyed the simulation because I learned a lot of things but I was dismayed for the little mistakes we’ve made. Nevertheless, this will make me to bear all the things I’ve learned today in my heart and not repeat the same mistake over again.
Today was my second time entering the newest and only-in-FEU laboratory for nursing education because we are assigned there for our duty. The first was during my level III first semester revalida but it was not yet fully functional. You may often hear FEU nursing students saying:
Duty kami bukas sa VINES…
Nakapunta ka na sa VINES?
Ansaya sa VINES… the best!
Wow, sosyal… sa VINES kayo…
Excited na ako mag-VINES…
Which leaves you clueless about what you just heard. Worry no more because I am here to orient to on what is a VINES Laboratory.
VINES is an acronym for Virtual Integrated Nursing Education Simulation. It is the first and only full operational virtual nursing laboratory in the Philippines. It provides a realistic, state-of-the-art, joint commission compliant, and controlled safe environment for the students to practice safely in supportive environment before the students can enter the real world of healthcare. It is designed to replace the healthcare setting and facilities development of skills by using a simulated healthcare setting.
So in short, this is a hospital-like laboratory wherein it is divided into different areas: 6 bed wards, Medication room, Clean Utility room, Nurses’ lounge, Ante room (I am not familiar with this), Isolation/Private room, Control room 1&2, Intensive Care Unit 1&2, Emergency room, Operating/Delivery Room complex, Holding area, High Risk Pregnancy unit/Post- Anesthesia Care unit, Nursery and Central Supply room.
There are also mannequins (GERI for geriatrics, MIKE and MICHELLE for pediatrics, NOELLE for maternal and neonatal birthing, PEDI BLUE for neonates, CPR SUSIE for CPR, HAL for Acute Biologic Crisis) on which most nursing interventions can be practiced and variety of equipment that can be found in the hospital setting including a hoist, patient monitors and infusion pumps, a bedside sink and table.
If you want to view FEU’s VINES laboratory you can watch this video:
Before I forgot, VINES laboratory is equipped with cameras and microphones to monitor the activities in the laboratory. It is something like the “Big Brother”. Cameras are capable of zooming-in and zooming-out and rotating 360 degrees.
Our laboratory was also featured on GMA 7′s Saksi. Here’s the video:
No wonder why FEU is being branded as the Fastest Earning University LOL! It is good to know that our tuition fee is going to something, which could be of great help for our learning. We will be oriented on hospital settings in which at times we aren’t able to know or experience with the “real” hospitals. Lucky for our batch because we were able to utilize this laboratory when it is fully-functional already. During our simulations, our Clinical instructors would tell the prices of each mannequins and equipments for us to take care of those things and believe me, our tuition fee is not enough to pay for those just in case.
VINES laboratory have a high tech simulators that will make you say “Wow!” “Bongga…” “Sosyal!” “Wala sa bundok nito…”. It really facilitated my learning very well. I enjoyed it very much. I appreciated nursing procedures, which was discussed to us and I was able to practice it (in nursing, you will not know how it goes if you don’t perform it). This I believe is FEU’s edge among other nursing schools mushroom-ing (LOL!) nowadays and I am definitely proud of it (because I paid for it. LOL! Kidding…).
My source is from the VINES Code of Professional Behavior— Student Information handout. This is not a sponsored post. LOL!
Far Eastern University, Institute of Nursing has this rotation of schedules for duties and lectures. They shift schedules every grading period to rotate the students equally in their clinical exposure and not to come in conflict with their lecture days. Two days will be spent for lecture, three days for clinical exposure and one day for our rest day.
Last preliminary period, I have a Monday-Wednesday duty days and Friday-Saturday lecture days which make Thurdays a rest day for me which I haven’t felt because of busy schedule.
Now that we are on the Midterm period, my schedule is now Monday-Tuesday lecture days and Wednesday-Friday duty days, which make Saturdays my rest day. It’s a good thing for I can rest for two consecutive days considering that the next day is Sunday.
If you would connect this blog entry to my “E-learning Blues” post, Saturdays are now my E-learning day and I was able to attend it. Finally! Though I arrived late, I was able to finish at least 2 topics. I was somewhat dismayed when I learned that the E-learning people closed the module that I am previously doing which means that I can’t continue it anymore and gives me a 0(Zero) mark on each quizzes in that particular module. Poor me! Anyway, I will try to finish the module that I am into right now which is about Acute Biologic Crisis.
Congratulate me for I have attended my E-learning the second time! LOL! *claps for me… I have my e-learning schedule on all Saturdays of August. Hopefully (Again…) I can attend to all of those.
