Idaho State students using ambulances for unique training

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Anyone get the chance to do this? ISU nursing students using ambulances for unique training | KIDK CBS 3 - News, Weather and Sports - Idaho Falls - Pocatello - Blackfoot, ID - Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Blackfoot - Idaho | Local & Regional

POCATELLO - Nursing students at Idaho State University are not only learning how to help critically ill patients, but how to do it in every type of environment.

As if it wasn't hard enough to keep "Mr. Brown" alive when he is having a heart attack, but students in the Associate Degree Registered Nurse program at ISU are doing it in a moving ambulance.

And they're the only ones in the country doing this type of training. Michelle Raley, Team Leader for the exercise said, "If it comes down to it and (I have to do a transport), I'll have a little better experience with it and I'll know better what they're going to need on the other end of the phone."

But talking with the hospital you're taking a patient to is only half the battle. Larry Honeycutt, ADRN Nursing Student said, "You're on your own, so you have to really be able to think critically and follow through with your decisions and things like that. You definitely don't have near as many supplies."

And those limited supplies go quick as students try to regulate heart rate and blood pressure. Javier Rodriquez, an ADRN Nursing Student said, "It puts a lot more responsibility in the nurses hands."

This exercise is also important because many of these students will end up working in rural areas, and they have to know how to function in an ambulance. Dr. Linda Smith, ADRN Program Director said, "It's as real as we can make it."

Another key to the training is getting students to work as a team.

While they only spent about 45 minutes in the ambulance Wednesday, it's a skill they'll certainly need as they work with other nurses, doctors, or paramedics in the future. Smith said, "We learn how to collaborate and respect each other as health care professionals, and use each others skills."

The ISU College of Technology has about $300,000 worth of simulation equipment they're able to use for these types of exercises.

But along with getting some hands-on practice students can count the training as clinical time, and are graded on their performance.

A faculty member was also in the ambulance to help answer questions they had along the way.