SPEAKER 1: Chino happens to be a place where
some exciting innovations have been
taking place in the classroom.
Here's a look at how our vocational nursing program is
using virtual reality equipment to train
the next generation of nurses.
SPEAKER 2: The Chaffey College Chino Education Center
is located just a couple of miles
north of the main Chino campus.
Here, nursing students learn everything,
from taking blood pressure to administering injections,
to delivering babies.
There are three labs featuring top of the line equipment
in a hospital-like setting.
Between 100 to 150 vocational nursing students
receive training and certification testing
here every year.
In fall 2022, the program began incorporating
human-patient simulation technology
in vocational nursing instruction,
thanks to a Strong Workforce grant.
Chaffey College is one of the few Southern California
community colleges using this technology in nursing
education.
ERIC SORENSON: My name is Dr. Eric Sorenson,
and I'm the Dean of the Health and Wellness
Academic and Career Community.
Our goal is really to have the same equipment that
exists in the hospitals, exists in
the various clinical environments in our skills
labs.
LIDIA LOPEZ: Here at Chaffey, we have
so many avenues of educating here doing simulation.
We have high-fidelity mannequins.
We have virtual simulation.
And the students get to learn a lot, hands on.
ELYSSA BOLDING: It's really hard,
and it's really difficult, but it's really awesome
to come to class and know that your professors care about you,
and your classmates are also willing to help you out.
Chaffey College is like a community.
And that's why I really like it.
ERIC SORENSON: Virtual reality has really
opened the door for our students to continue
to solidify their skills.
LIDIA LOPEZ: It literally gives you the view of an entire room.
You have a patient in front of you.
You have a nurse.
You have medication.
You have everything that you would in a normal situation
in real life.
ELYSSA BOLDING: The VR simulation is really cool.
You kind of go into a whole other world.
There was a little puddle on the floor in the VR world.
But I kept stepping over it thinking that it was real.
LIDIA LOPEZ: You feel so immersed into it.
You really do feel like you're in there.
ERIC SORENSON: And this provides a realistic learning
environment.
So they're not practicing on patients.
They're practicing in their simulations.
LIDIA LOPEZ: To practice skills, get
accustomed to doing nursing procedures and skills
so they can get ready for bedside nursing at hospitals,
at clinical sites with real patients.
ELYSSA BOLDING: I was able to call the doctor
and ask for what kind of orders that the patient may need
and give a whole SBAR report.
That was something new for me because in the VR world,
we're able to experience a higher stress level
scenarios versus clinicals, we may not experience the same.
ERIC SORENSON: It's important for us
to replicate a realistic clinical environment
because our students will ultimately be clinicians
dealing with and caring for real patients.
LIDIA LOPEZ: The students are enjoying it.
It's very fun.
It's interactive.
Technology is here.
ELYSSA BOLDING: I was very nervous
coming into this program.
But every week I get through, I get way more confident.
I feel a lot of support and a lot of love here.
As long as I'm willing to do my end of the deal,
they're willing to help me out as much as they can as well.
LIDIA LOPEZ: It's very rewarding teaching nursing, just seeing
these students become successful and meeting their goals.
ERIC SORENSON: Educating those in our community
and impacting their lives is really what we do.
And we do this at a very low cost
that it provides accessibility to everybody in our community.