Collaboration with Consultants Drives Intrinsic Motivation

Collaboration across disciplines leads to powerful learning experiences. To drive intrinsic interest in content, we crafted a project experience for the students of CST 150 and ART 343. The students of ART 343 served as art and design consultants for educational game projects devised in CST. The students of the different classes collaborated in a synergistic way to both develop art resources and fine tune important design aspects such as modes of interaction and appealing to a specific user audience. This experience was successful and will lead to collaborations between diverse student the CS and Art programs

Online Team-Teaching: Sharing Best Practices to Improve Student Learning Outcomes and Increase Student Satisfaction

NSG 493 \u27Transition to Practice’ is a final semester course within the LSON BSN Curriculum in the traditional, on campus accelerated, and online accelerated programs. The team of 4 online faculty, in partnership with school leadership and various online site locations, analyzed previous student and faculty feedback and subsequently identified opportunities for improvement which were implemented in the fall 2019 semester. The aim was higher quality content, information, synchronous communication and assignments for students to enhance learning potential and increase student and faculty satisfaction. To achieve this, faculty incorporated feedback to plan, develop, and implement the following: new processes, revised content, re-aligned assignments, updated rubrics, synchronous activities, and innovative team communication strategies. This also helped to ensure consistency with the on-campus course. To help students ascribe value to their NCLEX prep activities, faculty worked with our third party to ensure NCLEX practice test scheduling and delivery was an improved process. In terms of evaluation, faculty plan to evaluate ongoing changes based on student and faculty feedback both qualitatively and quantitatively. To increase overall program alignment, faculty worked with the Progression Outcomes committee to bring in the end of program student satisfaction survey to ensure aggregate program data is collected in the course in addition to individual course analysis. Through this whole experience, a faculty aid was created as a process for handing off the course semester to semester which will be shared

Bringing Examples to Life: Case Study Writing Assignment in Biochemistry

Case study teaching is a powerful to introduce students not only to teach concepts and content, but also critical thinking and problem solving skills. Cases bring content to life using examples and approaches that can interest students. Biochemistry students wrote short cases in groups to share with their classmates about protein structure function relationships utilizing a variety of models (diagrams and tactile models). This presentation with share the assignment details, student examples, lesson learned, and suggested ways that others could utilize this assignment

Sister Act: Applied Historical Research Methods

How do can we make our research methods courses more impactful, inclusive, and integrated? How can we engage students more effectively in a course many dread? My answer is to transform our Historical Research Methods course into an applied studies format that integrates active research subjects into the framework of the course. Students will utilize multiple historical research methods throughout the course as they work towards a larger research project on social justice history. As a class, we will be working with the Sisters of St. Francis Oldenburg to collect interviews, conduct archival research, and work towards a joint publication on the history of the order and its relationship to social justice movements since its founding. There will be opportunities for individual undergraduate publications and conference presentations, co-authored work between faculty and students, and student contributions to a larger book project moving forward. This class is a pilot for potentially shifting all research methods courses in the Department of History and Social Science to an applied studies model

Online Tools for Active In-Class Learning

According to researchers, Thiele et al. (2014), technology can enhance learning by making the classroom more active and student-centered. In EDU 307 and EDU 419, I have used a variety of online tools to support active student engagement during classroom discussions and activities. During this poster session, I will explain how to integrate tools such as Popplet, Padlet, Plickers and more to engage students in classroom discussions, collaborative work, and assignments. I will also share samples of student work

Efficacy of an Airway Management Educational Primer for Perianesthesia Nursing Staff

It is a requirement of perianesthesia nurses to be competent in caring for patients who are sedated or anesthetized for procedures in a hospital setting. Oftentimes, when patients are sedated, they are unable to maintain their own airways. This can lead to respiratory decompensation of the patient if interventions are not employed. Therefore, perianesthesia nursing requires expert advanced airway assessment and management skills or training to achieve competency. A review of related studies on continuing education of nurses reveals that trainings are beneficial in the realms of knowledge acquisition, practice change, and perceived self-efficacy. The primary purpose of this project was to evaluate the efficacy of such an educational training on knowledge gained utilizing a pre/post-test method of assessment. A secondary aim was to measure if there was a reduction in skill-related anxiety of the nurses following the training utilizing a short-form of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Adults. Long-term follow up of both knowledge gained and anxiety levels was performed at a six-month interval after the initial training. The findings between the initial knowledge and anxiety pre- and post-tests were both statistically significant (p\u3c0.001). However, at the six-month interval, neither the knowledge gained nor reduction of anxiety remained significantly better compared to the initial pre-test. Nurse training and education is effective in increasing knowledge and self-efficacy, but long-term continuing education may be necessary to maintain familiarity and competence with material

Podcasts as a Learning Adjunct in Nurse Anesthesia Education

Educational approaches are constantly evolving due to of influences from technology and improvements in the resources that are available to educators as well as learners. Current literature suggests that utilizing podcasts in addition to conventional educational methods contributes to a higher level of satisfaction among learners. The goal of this translational research project was to provide student registered nurse anesthetists (SRNAs) with educational podcasts as an adjunct to their traditional learning process and then measure their satisfaction after listening to the podcasts. A series of six educational podcasts were recorded and made available on From the Head of the Bed, which is a free podcast platform for the anesthesia community that is available to Apple, Android, Spotify, or Rich Site Summary (RSS) users. The intervention of using educational podcasts was intended to supplement and reinforce customary learning practices in nurse anesthesia education. A post-intervention anonymous online survey was administered to the SRNAs at Marian University. A mixed methods study design was developed to assess the satisfaction of the educational podcasts

Identifying the Effects of Penicillin and Essential Oils on the Viability of Staphylococcus aureus

The emergence of Staphylococcus aureus related illnesses is posing an alarmingly dangerous lifestyle for individuals with compromised immune systems. The increasing resistance of bacterial strains and microorganisms to conventional antibiotics and treatments is a serious problem that has alerted scientists to identify new approaches to prevent their emergence. Essential oils contain properties that are capable of inhibiting or slowing the growth of bacteria. The combination of antibiotics and essential oils are representing a new development in combating antibiotic resistance. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of essential oils and penicillin in decreasing the viability of S. aureus. The disk diffusion assay was utilized to examine the effects of penicillin and the essential oils, lavender and tea tree oil, individually and in combination. All the treatments decreased S. aureus viability to different extents, by exhibiting moderate zones of inhibition. Penicillin was observed to be more potent than the essential oils. In addition, the efficacy of the combination of penicillin and the essential oils was investigated. Interestingly, the results portrayed the combinations had a lower potency than the sum of the individual treatments. The results demonstrated that the essential oils of lavender and tea tree can be used as potential antibacterial agents against S. aureus infections and penicillin in combination with essential oils has an antagonist effect

Preoxygenation of Patients with Class Three Obesity

Patients with class three obesity, formerly defined as morbid or extreme obesity, presenting for anesthesia come with an increased risk of experiencing complications. The oxygen storage capabilities and the functional residual capacity (FRC) in the lungs are reduced, making this patient population at risk for rapid oxygen desaturation with apnea. This patient population also has an increased risk for complications to occur while securing the patient’s airway during induction of anesthesia and are at risk for difficult airway management. Preoxygenation is performed before the induction of anesthesia to replace nitrogen in the lungs with oxygen, this will increase the time a patient can tolerate apnea without desaturating. Due to the increased risks which present with the class three obesity population, it is important to optimize preoxygenation prior to the induction of anesthesia and to consider providing apneic oxygenation during the intubation process to prevent desaturation. There are many studies and recommendations found in the literature concerning optimizing preoxygenation, patient positioning, and providing apneic oxygenation to the class three obesity patient population as means to prevent desaturation during induction of anesthesia. The objective of this project was to utilize the Iowa Model of Research-Based Practice to Promote Quality Care (IOWA Model) to perform a review of the literature concerning preoxygenation of obese patients and examine current preoxygenation practices at Hendricks Regional Health Hospital (HRH). Current practice at HRH was examined via retrospective chart review of three months of data. During September, October, and November of 2019, HRH had 82 patients with a BMI of 40 or greater receive anesthesia which required endotracheal tube (ETT) placement for airway management. 16 (20%) of these patients experienced a desaturation measured by a peripheral capillary oxygen saturation (SpO2) less than 90%. Data extracted from the retrospective chart review produced descriptive as well as parametric statistics. The results of the data analysis did not offer significant results identifying differences between the group of patients who experienced a desaturation and the group of patients who did not have a desaturation. Because of this, it is suggested each patient at risk for desaturation, including those with class three obesity, be treated as though they are going to experience a desaturation and measures to prevent this desaturation be taken. Techniques to decrease the percentage of patients who experiencing a desaturation during the induction of anesthesia at HRH are discussed in this paper