National League for Nurses Health Information Technology Scholar Program (HITS)

For the year 2011, I have been accepted to the National League for Nurses (NLN) Health Information Technology Scholar Program. (HITS).  This is a year-long immersive program with the following goals:
     1.  Transform teaching and learning in the 21st century – Merge informatics, telehealth, simulation and e-  learning to create powerful learning environments.

     2.  Improve Nursing Education and Practice – develop faculty to integrate IT in curricula to educate future practitioners.
     3.  Expand Infrastructure for clinical Learning Processes – Educate a cadre of well-informed faculty who focus on real-world applications of technologies in their education practices.
     4.  Optimize Patient Safety and Drive Improvements in Healthcare Quality – Better educate future workforce with competencies to provide safe, quality and efficient healthcare through use of technologies. 

There were: 253 faculty applicants (113 Schools; 36 States) , with 52 faculty accepted from 29 diverse schools in 20 states.   (NLN HITS PPT presentation January 28, 2011).  Here are the esteemed Executive Leadership Team:

                                                    Helen Connors, PhD, RN, FAAN

                                                    Diane Billings, EdD, RN, FAAN
                                                    Pam Jeffries, PhD, RN, FAAN, ANEF
                                                    Diane Skiba, PhD, FAAN, FACMI
                                                    Mary Anne Rizzolo, EdD, RN, FAAN

My project will involve using Nightingale Isle for simulations and role plays for baccalaureate level students. More to come as I fine-tune the project goals.

Society for Simulation in Healthcare International Meeting (SSH IMSH)

It has been awhile since I have blogged. Since last time, I graduated with a Doctor in Nursing Practice from St. Catherine University, and have begun to write up a couple manuscripts for publication.

I spent the last week in New Orleans at the International Meeting for Simulation in healthcare. I presented the avatar project, and there was much participant interest about the project. I also joined the Special interest group (SIG) for serious games for learning. There were over 2400 people in attendance and there were offerings such as Sim Wars, Immersive Sessions, and Serious Games.  For the full story of the events go to http://clinicalplayground.com/ to read musings from Eric Bauman. We are beginning to gear up for next year's conference. For starters, Nightingale Isle will be part of the serious games arcade. It will be fun to share information with nurses and physicians who are interested in how to use virtual worlds for educational purposes.