ZLOG for December 6, 2018
As we get further into the holiday season and approach the winter solstice (for those of us retired, this is an excuse to hibernate – or at least increase nap time), this may be a good time in this season of reflection and new beginnings to ask ourselves where are we going with KCRSA? We’ve been at this for several years now. Are we getting anywhere?
I think we are. We have evolved our governance structure and our meetings’ formats over this time and the current offerings seem to have some appeal. Amid news that several alliances in this country have failed over the last few years, we had the highest rate of attendance for the Fall Symposium, 2018, which KCRSA helps sponsor. And we had good interest and survey responses from our spring and fall meetings. I get the impression that people enjoy seeing someone else’s “Simulation Home” and seeing how they put their program together and having a format that includes vendors.
I was not able to be in town for the last meeting at Mid-America Nazarene so I made it a point to schedule myself to go out to Kata’s “shop” just to see her IPE program on resuscitation that she has put together with Olathe Fire and Rescue. The trip was well worth it for me. To see a precision EMS crew model a resuscitation reminded me of a pit crew at NASCAR. And then to have these resuscitation experts stay with nursing faculty and be able to process several scenario rooms simultaneously with each student rotating several times through all the resuscitation positions on a mannikin, each with one-on-one coaching enabled because of the added faculty with the EMS crew produced a huge throughput increase. Kata Conde was thus able to process her entire class through resuscitation fairly quickly, yet able to give each student one-on-one training in an immersive environment with modeling and practice.
To me, to learn about and witness such efforts and to present the situation so that everyone in the area can attend and consider this and see if it applies to their situation is what our Alliance is all about. The next meeting is to be at KU this spring – date to be announced.
Happiest of Holidays to each of you.
Zam