JoAnna Collins BSN, RN, M.Ed. is the Nurse Aide and Medication Aide Coordinator at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), where a growing number of nurse aide training programs incorporate Realityworks’ hands-on training tools to help student develop empathy and other important patient care skills.
“Having that equipment helps with the sensitivity and awareness training,” said Collins, who also serves as the Interim Program Director for Practical Nursing. “[Students] learn to be patient and empathetic. It really helps with the emotional support component of it, to really understand their patient population.”
JoAnna Collins BSN, RN, M.Ed.
Interim Program Director for Practical Nursing
Nurse Aide and Medication Aide Coordinator
Workforce Development
Woodbridge, Alexandria and Reston Center Campuses
Collins lives in Florida but telecommutes and visits NOVA’s campus every 6-8 weeks for board of nursing meetings, regulatory meetings, and boots-on-the-ground training with the faculty she teaches. She ensures the faculty have the latest and greatest information on the topics they’re teaching. One of the resources they use is the curricula included with Realityworks’ learning aids.
“The instructors have access to the [included] curriculum,” Collins shared. “I encourage them to read through it… It’s used as a review tool so the instructor can prepare how to use it or get ideas.”
Collins creates a variety of nurse aide training classes for workforce development programs. Hands-on learning is a key part of these programs.
“It’s important to have hands-on activities no matter what your teaching,” stated Collins. “Yes, they have to have the basic understanding of the academics, but the application is a priority. Hands-on learning makes it stick better.”
These nurse aide training programs can recruit from many areas, and the students don’t need rigorous academic preparation. Collins works with a variety of populations to get them the skills they need to work high-demand jobs. However, before they can develop the necessary skills, the students must first determine if they’re in the right program for them.
“Realityworks really comes in handy in my entry-level classes because students are getting exposure to ‘What is the job looking like? Is this something I really want to do?’ in a short-term training where they haven’t given up three years of their life,” Collins said.
Collins has a plethora of experience in the teaching and health science worlds. She was the program director at her previous college, has a bachelor’s degree in nursing, and has a master’s in educational leadership. She also has firsthand experience as an EMT, cardiac tech, licensed practical nurse (LPN), and nurse.
“I’m super creative,” stated Collins. “You give me a problem and I’ll think outside the box to solve it! I think about all the things I’ve had access to in different situations, and when I see a tool that helps me create a better environment for my students, that’s what I want. And that’s why we have so many Realityworks products.”
Collins uses a variety of Realityworks training tools in her CNA, medication aid, and advanced CNA programs. The goal of these nurse aide training programs is to move students up through the healthcare ranks to reach their personal and professional goals. Each program builds on the other and helps students get into healthcare jobs within 6-10 weeks.
Collins started exploring Realityworks learning aids when she was looking for a way to create additional soft skills nurse aide training related to geriatric care, such as empathy. “Everyone comes out with that soft skill – being able to be aware and cognizant of the difficulties patients can have – and that’s standardized,” explained Collins. “Realityworks products helps standardize learning across the board.”
One of the tools Collins uses is the Geriatric Sensory Impairment Kit. The kit helps students understand common sensory challenges older adult patients face and develop geriatric nursing skills. It includes the Hearing Impairment Simulator, Geriatric Arthritis Simulator, and Geriatric Tremor Simulator.
“If I teach you that geriatric clients have limited mobility, you can learn that fact, right?” said Collins. “But if I put the arthritis simulator on your hand and ask you to feed yourself, now you understand when I tell you your client may have a hard time gripping a spoon. They’re more cognizant of it while they’re providing care.”
NOVA’s nurse aide training courses cover range of motion, movement, and body mechanics while implementing 30 hours of direct skills training. Their last day is when students have additional support from their adjunct instructor to fine-tune those critical skills in a simulation lab.
“At this point, [the students] have checked off on all the skills they need to do,” Collins explained. “Once that checkoff happens, then we bring in the toys! It’s like having a simulation day with all Realityworks products. We’ll have students put mobility equipment on and require them to both perform the skills as a caregiver and be the patient.”
This skills lab takes place before the students go the clinical site. At the clinical site, students will encounter patients who have visual disturbances, hear voices or sounds, have mobility issues, or are stroke victims. They simulate caring for such patients with the Geriatric Sensory Impairment Kit and Geriatric Simulator.
The Geriatric Simulator helps students develop empathy towards older patients and people with limited mobility. It lets students personally experience a variety of physical and visual challenges, such as stooped posture, restricted range of motion, glaucoma, and more. It includes a sensitivity suit, walker, and curriculum.
“[Students are] given a scenario where they go into a separate lab, and one patient is in the bed in full Realityworks gear – the arthritis simulator, the goggles simulating visual disturbances, the hearing impairment simulation, weights, the walker, etc.,” stated Collins. “Then the caregiver is asked to provide five skills, just like they would for their final exam, but now the patient is really experiencing issues.”
All students get to play the role of the caregiver and the patient during the simulation. They write a reflection summary telling Collins what they learned, their “aha” moment, and what made them think a little harder about being a compassionate care provider.
“We know that we teach them about life processes and things like that, but it is just not the same as when they can experience something,” Collins explained. “And it’s one thing to experience it as a healthcare provider, but it’s a whole other thing when they can experience it as a patient.”
The instructors used to smear glasses with Vaseline to simulate visual impairment, have students wear earplugs to simulate hearing impairment, and tell the student in the patient role that they couldn’t move a certain part of their body to simulate mobility issues. These tools offer more realistic simulations with less setup and takedown time.
“Having these learning aids decreases the stress on the teaching staff,” said Collins. “We know we have the tools and all we need to do is pull them off the shelf and set them up.”
Sometimes they set up different impairment stations around the classroom and have students rotate through them. Other times the teacher has students experience all the impairments at once. Each student gets the same simulation experience as their peers.
“I want my students to have the same experience or similar experience in every class – that they have a quality, robust earning experience that makes them want to engage,” Collins shared.
One of the simulation tools Collins’ students use is the ECG Simulator. This award-winning simulator helps teach accurate placement of ECG/EKG leads on the body through rib palpation; how to read 3-, 4-, 5-, and 12-lead rhythms; and how to recognize those rhythms on screen and in hard copy.
“We purchased the ECG Simulator so we could add extra stations so students could practice the skills without purchasing a new system,” explained Collins. “This one was more cost-effective to supplement what we currently had so we could create multiple stations. We have about 20 stations that students are working through at a time, in groups of 1-2.”
Employability Scenario Cards are another learning resource Collins uses to kick off nurse aide training classes and help students prepare for interviews, both as the interviewee and interviewer. “They have come in handy across the classes that I teach,” Collins stated. She uses the cards in discussion boards and Zoom calls, creating polls or breakout rooms with them.
“These tools support a different kind of learning,” said Collins. “That’s the kind of learning that I want in my program.”
From CNA to advanced CNA, Collins’ nurse aide training programs create a healthcare career ladder for those interested in patient care. In the future, she wants to add another rung to that ladder with an LPN program. “We are meeting a very high-demand need,” Collins stated. “I’m using that leverage to really build a program that students are proud they attended.”
Learning tools used:
Geriatric Sensory Impairment Kit
Use the Geriatric Sensory Impairment Kit to help students understand common sensory challenges faced by older adult patients and develop geriatric nursing skills.
RealCare™ Geriatric Simulator
This wearable simulator enables students to personally experience a variety of physical and visual challenges, like stooped posture, restricted range of motion, glaucoma and more.
ECG Simulator
Use the ECG Simulator to teach accurate placement of ECG/EKG leads on the body through rib palpation; how to read 3-, 4-, 5- and 12-lead rhythms; and how to recognize those rhythms on screen and in hard copy.
Employability Skills Program Workplace Scenario Cards
Use with small groups, as large group ice breakers, as well as individual challenges, to teach students 20 soft skills.