EDUCATION

Students Earn Competitive-Edge with Hands-On Simulation Learning

Valerie Puig rushed to suit up in full PPE to treat a burn patient in isolation. It was her first time providing patient care with a physical barrier between her and the patient, however, she was determined to learn as much as she could knowing she had the support of her professor and classmates. Puig was a West Coast University Miami (WCU) student experiencing a burn unit simulation in the technologically advanced Simulation Center with instructor Larissa Lozano.

“In simulation and nursing, your patient can become unstable very quickly and you’re forced to assess a patient and save someone’s life in a short time,” said WCU graduate Valerie Puig. “Instructors like Lozano taught me to think critically about the simulations, which really helped the information stick after graduation.”

As a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit nurse during the COVID-19 pandemic, Puig’s nursing school experience in the Simulation Center became all the more real when she was faced with treating highly infectious pediatric patients isolated from the world. Her simulated patientcare experience — ranging from emergency to routine — equipped her with the skills and confidence to provide the highest quality patient care during an unprecedented time in healthcare.

“It’s a tough but rewarding profession,” said Lozano. “In the simulation lab, there is always someone there to help and everyone truly cares about your success. If students keep that in the back of their mind and take accountability for their own success, it’s a match made in heaven.”

The Simulation Center offers students a realistic patient-care setting using high-fidelity manikins that mimic human responses and current healthcare technology. The simulations emphasize nursing processes, safety, infection control, therapeutic communication, collaboration, decision making, and leadership. During these nursing simulation sessions, students have the opportunity to problem-solve in situations that are true to life without posing any risk to real patients.

“The manikin would have vital signs and you can put a stethoscope on it and hear it breathing and see its pupils dilating,” said Puig. “I mean, they are amazing and as realistic as you can get. With a lot of hospitals being as limited as they are right now for students to come in due to COVID and practice their clinical rotations, I think sim lab is the safest way to practice those skills.”

WCU students also learn to build strong interpersonal skills and good bedside manners in the Simulation Center that help patients feel confident in a nurse's ability and judgment. Reinforcing bedside skills and other routine activities, like proper handwashing and identification checks at the beginning of a “shift,” and then repeating them consistently during nursing simulation lab sessions build good habits that become second nature. “By practicing those bedside skills during a simulated scenario, you get to learn the emotional and psychological nursing skills that are important, aside from putting in an IV and administering medication,” said Puig. “It’s so critical because nurses are the faces you remember during patient care. The ones who were there for you for 12 hours.”

West Coast University is dedicated to helping students like Valerie Puig experience realistic nursing scenarios that prepare them to step up during times like these and successfully care for patients. Even with social distancing guidelines limiting access to the Simulation Center, the university’s innovative virtual labs provide engaging and authentic learning opportunities similar to those in the center. With a combination of critical thinking and hands-on experience, students gain a competitive edge in their nursing careers. ————————————

Valerie Puig, WCU Alumni

West Coast University is institutionally accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC) 1001 Marina Village Parkway, Suite 402, Alameda, CA 94501510-748-9001, www.wascsenior.org

West Coast University's Nursing programs are programmatically accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), 655 K Street, Suite 750, Washington DC 20001, (202) 887-6791, http://www.aacnnursing.org/CCNE.

WCU offers career placement assistance but cannot guarantee employment.

The opinion is the individual’s sole opinion and not necessarily representative of that of the school, any instructor, or any student. Due to the current COVID-19 outbreak, the University has moved most of the onground courses into a distance education modality. However, as soon as the COVID-19 circumstances change, students will be expected to return on campus to complete their program onsite in the regular learning modality as approved by WSCUC and outlined in the university catalog.

THE REAL FOOD ACADEMY

teaches children and adults the joys of cooking healthy food

By Christopher Pearson

As the most unusual school year in our collective memory comes to a close in a few weeks, it’s time for parents to think about summer camp for their children. The husband and wife team of Maria and Arthur Cummins have an interesting suggestion – why not consider something exciting and different like their popular cooking camp for kids at The Real Food Academy?

On June 7th, The Real Food Academy will kick off its popular annual summer camp in a large sun-splashed building where children channel their inner chefs developing or honing their skills preparing a variety of foods that are healthy, nutritious and delicious.

Maria, a native of Venezuela who learned to cook healthy foods from her Peruvian father, launched a successful business in 2008 offering private cooking classes and children’s cooking parties in Miami Shores. Demand for the classes grew so rapidly that when her husband Arthur retired after a career in insurance, he joined her as CoFounder of The Real Food Academy, which the pair launched in 2011.

They renovated a 5,300 square-foot, two-story building that features a large, well-appointed teaching kitchen, plenty of food preparation space and a café that is open to the public. During non-summer camp months, they stay busy providing adult cooking classes, corporate culinary retreats, team-building exercises, birthday parties, weddings and other special cooking events.

Among the delectable and healthful dishes on the teaching menu are avocado baked fries, vegetable frittata, marinated chicken kebabs, butternut squash ravioli, healthy pad thai, crispy salmon and quinoa fish fingers and pumpkin pie with chocolate crust.

“We don’t change the dish, we change the ingredients,” explains Maria. “We chose the name Real Food Academy because our mission is to focus on ingredients that are as close to organic as possible, using no processed foods. We are passionate about teaching the relationship between eating healthy and keeping healthy. The two go hand-inhand.”

In addition to cooking classes, The Real Food Academy Café is open daily to the public, offering light fare such as home-made soups, salads, pizzas and burgers, and accompanied by a range of delicious meals, desserts, smoothies and beverages.

A summer camp like no other

“What’s so wonderful about our culinary summer camp is that is provides children the chance to learn cooking skills, experiment in the kitchen, build friendships and expand their culinary palate,” says Arthur. “On top of that, they’re improving their math and reading skills, dancing Zumba and doing arts and crafts. Of course, we’re very careful about keeping everyone safe, wearing masks, washing hands, physically distancing and limiting the number of campers and staff.”

“Our primary mission, which we refer to as our North Star, is to educate families about the difference between real food and processed food and how unhealthy the latter is,” says Arthur.

One of the most popular camp activities is known as Food Detectives, where Maria teaches the campers how to read ingredient labels on food packages and what those names and numbers mean. “It’s always a shock to the kids when they realize that sugar is one of the top ingredients in breakfast cereals, which most of them had that morning for breakfast. Kids learn how eating healthy foods can potentially stave off future medical problems like diabetes and heart disease,” says Maria.

The parents are as happy about the camp as the campers.

“I was skeptical with Covid but they followed the rules very well and plenty of space for social distancing,” said parent Julia Santeliz. “My 13 year-old daughter attended this camp and loved it. It was a great combination of very good food, technique, great camp leaders and knowledge of nutrition. She is now correcting me on knife technique!”

Many of the campers come back every year and several have returned to help teach the newest generation of campers.

Starting June 7th, The Real Food Academy Summer Camp runs for 11 weeks for kids ages 5-16 at 570 NE 81st Street in Miami. Hours are from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (with an extra charge for late pickup). Parents interested in enrolling a child in The Real Food Academy Summer Camp can register here. Children learn to cook at Summer Camp.

The Real Food Academy and Café is located at 570 NE 81st Street, Miami, Florida 33138. For more information, please visit www.therealfoodacademy.com or call 786-395-0355.

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