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programmed to respond to medications, tests, procedures, and treatments much as a human patient would. Students can practice tasks as simple as giving injections and taking blood, or as complex as inserting a pacemaker or defibrillator. "When I was in nursing school 28 years ago, we used oranges to practice giving injections," says Cheryl Nitz, nursing and health laboratory director. "Today, professors sit in a control room with a oneway window to provide instant feedback to students providing treatments for simulated patients, as well as videotaping to show them how they performed." Opportunities for students to experience these simulation tools will increase in the new facility, which will include four simulation suites with wireless 3G highfidelity mannequin "patients." CareFirst deliverinG liFe-sustaininG care BlueCross BlueShield recently awarded HCC a grant to purchase "Baby VitalSims" atsadaporn niyomyart is studying "the art and science" of health care. She was as well as another new simulator. "We trained as a nurse in Thailand, so she brings health care experience to her new are committed to improving the academic career. The emergency medical technician/paramedic (EMT/P) major says there infrastructure for nursing students through is more than meets the eye when it comes to providing patients with emergency alternative teaching methods such as clini- health services. cal simulation labs," says Karen Dixon, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield associate vice president - community affairs, HCC alumni, and former board member of the HCC Educational Foundation. Simulation has been integrated throughout HCC's health services programs because of the advantages it offers in providing students with a wide range of situations before they encounter them in an actual health care facility. Simulation gives "When you arrive on an emergency scene, you must be prepared to work without the support of doctors and nurses that you'd have in a hospital. The true art occurs when you find the unexpected, and you have to quickly assess the situation, develop a health care plan, and convince the patient to undergo treatment." To become an EMT, students take classes for one semester and work in the field for a minimum of 150 hours. if they continue into the paramedic program, they receive 1,200 hours of training and graduate with an associate degree and/or certification, according to Angel Burba, associate professor and emergency medical services program director. During her EMT/P program at HCC, Niyomyart studies biology, anatomy, and physiology; learns to perform patient assessments, insert an iV, administer medications, and oxygenate and ventilate a patient. outside the traditional students the chance to learn vital skills, put classroom setting, she works with simulation patients, following the course of them into action, make decisions, commu- emergency situations from the scene to the ambulance to the transfer to nursing nicate with others, and practice teamwork. students in the hospital scenario. It provides a safe, hands-on venue with the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them without putting patients at risk. The most recent U.S. Bureau of labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook reports that employment of eMTs and paramedics is expected to grow 9 percent by 2018, due in large part to increasing call volume by an aging population. Atsadaporn Niyomyart plans to "arrive on the scene" of this workforce emergency just in time. Howard Community College Fall 2011 | Pathways 9