Hands-on experiences are crucial elements of the learning environment, but can be difficult to arrange. At Virginia Peninsula Community College, students in an Intro to Theater class recently had the opportunity to act as patients for the paramedic cohort’s final clinical skills exam, providing all involved with that valuable learning tool.
Kerri Duncan, an EMT program instructor, came up with the idea after noticing theater students in the classroom next to his at the Historic Triangle Campus in Williamsburg.
“Normally, we are using mannequins,” he said. “A human body that gives you feedback … is so much better for the student experience.”
Sandra Calerdon-Doherty, an assistant professor in Communication Studies, thought it was a great idea, so she mentioned it to her students.
“First of all, it’s like real-world, real-life experiences. They get immersed in a situation,” Calderon-Doherty said. “Second, they are also contributing to the campus community. I think it’s a really good experience.”
Jay Mims, a student in Calderon-Doherty’s Intro to Theater class and in their first year at VPCC, jumped at the opportunity.
“I was a little nervous because I haven’t been in a situation where I’ve been in an ambulance, or I’ve been looked over, other than a general doctor’s checkup or pediatric so I was a little nervous to be assessed like that,” they said, adding it was a little “awkward.”
Still, it was a benefit for Mims because they experienced something different.
“I already had quite a bit of training from high school. I’ve been in a lot of shows, and all of that is good, but what really helped was getting that experience of doing something that’s more intimate, the more personal details of the touching,” Mimis said. “In high school, you don’t do that.”
EMT students often practice on classmates or others in a similar field or with a similar background. Having someone different to diagnose was a great experience, said student Justin Callahan.
“A lot of times we do use dummies, or it’s very simulated,” he said. “So, it’s nice when you’re able to have an actual human that you can communicate with and make an assessment on.”
It also made the experience, which was held in the HT’s immersive lab, more realistic.
“When you’re doing that with a simulated prop, you’re constantly having to ask the questions, and then you’re being presented with what their response is from somebody else,” he explained. “So, this makes it a lot more fluid. You’re able to direct your patient care more toward that individual.”
Fellow EMT student Matthew Rock said he had to use his imagination because Mims didn’t fit the profile of a person in distress.
“They told us she had chest pain, and she was very diaphoretic because she was sweating. But obviously, she’s a healthy young woman, so she wasn’t like that,” he said.
Duncan said in his experience, using a live patient makes it less stressful for the EMT students.
“They are getting direct feedback instead of waiting for an evaluator,” he said.
The College has had an immersive lab at the Historic Triangle Campus for a few years, but this is the first time Duncan used it for the exams.
“The beauty of the immersive lab is we can change the environment without having the students leave the testing environment,” he said. “Everything is in that simple environment. It’s a seamless integration.”
He noted it also benefited Mims because they didn’t have to change environments, either.
The collaboration worked out well for everybody as the entire class passed the exam, said Duncan. Those students now can sit for their national exams, which Callahan and Rock expect to do in January.
Duncan noted it’s a terrific way to build a partnership between VPCC’s EMT and theater programs.
In fact, Calderon-Doherty would like to do this more often.
“Absolutely, I think there’s room for that,” she said. “Kerri and I are already talking about future plans.”