Nursing hopefuls training in lab

Medical professionals from Kaiser Permanente, along with faculty and staff from AV College, provided scenario-based modules for the students, allowing them to test real-world diagnostic and treatment skills on the mannequins.

Students accessed not only the nursing lab, but also the EMT, radiology technician and respiratory therapy training areas during the fictional scenarios relating to a traffic accident victim being treated in a local hospital, through discharge.

Modules included responding to a medical emergency, ICU, rehabilitation and discharge.

“We’re taking our professional knowledge, sharing it with the students,” Deborah Patterson, radiology director at Kaiser Permanente, said.

Patterson, an X-ray technician by trade, shared her knowledge of radiology with the students, including how to perform the different X-rays done in hospitals.

Kaiser Permanente also provided a social worker, nurses, pharmacy lab and physical therapy professionals.

“We pulled people from all the different modalities and brought them here to share  their knowledge with the students,” Patterson said.

She added: “It’s been a fun program; the students are really engaging. They really listen and want to know what we have to teach them.”

Kerin Coffey, academy coordinator for Eastside High’s Biomedical Science Academy, learned about a similar program through her Linked Learning fellowship.

A discussion about work-based learning opportunities with the director of Career Technical Education in Long Beach led to the creation of the pilot program, with the assistance of Diane Walker, the now-retired director of Industry Liaison and Post-Secondary  Partnerships and others.

Once they got started, it took about one year of planning, Coffey said.

“The motivation was to provide kids internships in this health field,” Coffey said.

The students completed a 20-hour training course where they did things such as complete resumes and other job-related activities. The students were paid through the America’s Job Center of California.

“This has been an incredible experience for not only the students but the faculty at AVC and the nurses at Kaiser.” Dr. Casey Scudmore, associate dean of Health and Safety science, said.

Scudmore added, “As far as the simulation piece, we’ve been able to show our faculty what simulation can be with all the different disciplines involved.”

The goal is to implement the program each summer.

The 15 students, who will start their senior year, next month, were Diana Cruz, Gabriel Guzman, Elena Martinez, Amya Bardalez, Hazel Avila-Quinteros, Layla Quemada, Stephanie Galindo, Elizabeth Notterman, Kaitlyn Munoz, Douglas Perez-Reyes, Hidalgo Jair, Chayse Gomez, Abigail Morales, Kaylin Cardenas and Andy Villalobos.

The students did CPR on the mannequins on the final day of class.

“It’s been a good program,” Morales said. “It’s interesting; I’ve learned a lot. It’s something that most people don’t get to experience. It’s a nice experience that we all get to take part of and we all learned something.”

Galindo joined the program to look at all of her options in the healthcare field.

“My school offers a lot of opportunities  with medicine, so I wanted to go through this program and see how it would be,” she said. “It’s really cool because it breaks you through how it would actually be in actual medical field, so I really found that interesting.”

Bardalez enjoyed the internship.

“It’s a really good experience,” she said. “I signed up for it because as a first-generation (college student), I don’t get to experience that much so I thought this would give me the experience I was missing and it definitely did.”

jdrake@avpress.com