University Communications & Marketing

The School of Nursing at Chaminade University hosted the Crisis Management Boot Camp (CMBC) for 24 senior nursing students during their NUR 499 Clinical Immersion course recently. Facilitated by registered nurses who practice in the acute care, intensive care, and rapid response team areas affiliated with the Hawaiian Islands Chapter of the American Association of Critical-care Nurses (HIC-AACN), the CMBC provided an educational simulation experience that facilitated recognizing a crisis and performing the necessary interventions promptly. Held in the E. L. Wiegand Simulation Suite on April 6, the boot camp provided essential practice in crisis management scenarios that the seniors at the School of Nursing would probably not see during their clinical rotations.

Experienced registered nurses volunteered their day and shared their expertise in a simulation environment. The registered nurses served as altruistic role models of the nursing profession and the nursing community of Hawaii for the students. Julie Gamboa, a passionate advocate who finds opportunities for students to practice critical situations that could never be practiced safely in the real world, coordinated the CMBC event.

Initially many of the students felt overwhelmed by the intensity and “the steep learning curve” of the experience. “But all of the teachers were warm, friendly, knowledgeable, and understanding. They shared an immense amount of information with all of us and instilled a new sense of confidence in myself. Learning from their immense collection of knowledge was priceless,” noted Chaminade senior Stephanie Lum.

Chaminade School of Nursing Simulation Coordinator Jeanette Peterson eagerly collaborated with HIC-AACN because of the valuable experience the boot camp would provide for the students. Assisted by Chaminade alumni Lynette Agcaoili BSN ’16 and Talia Rose BSN ’16, the School of Nursing collaborated with HIC-AACN to hold the event at Chaminade for the second year in a row.

“Practice comes with proficiency, and this is true with crisis management. This boot camp reinforced and expanded my knowledge about critical care. I learned new concepts which I can apply to my clinical immersion. I learned new skills like using a defibrillator and gained an assertive attitude when advocating for my patients,” remarked senior Glenn Gamponia.

Matthew Labuguen, also a senior in the School of Nursing, felt that the day allowed him to understand better how to bridge together what he had learned from didactic into clinical practice. “I learned a new way of processing assessments and how to better approach situations such as organizing my information to figure out root causes so that I can effectively address problems in a safe and timely manner,” he recalled. “This experience allowed me to be a part of crisis situations and actively think things out without the worry of harming a patient or feeling incompetent. I appreciated and am grateful for this experience.”

After the simulation debriefing this year, Chaminade nursing students were asked to write a reflection on the impact of the event on their future nursing practice.  The reflections were overwhelmingly appreciative of the time and opportunity to interact with the practicing nurse professionals.  On the simulation evaluation survey, the students consistently expressed the abilities to ask questions in a safe environment along and to clarify knowledge, skills, and attitudes.

“I learned so much about nursing that I didn’t know before. I also learned a lot about myself as a person and the type of nurse I want to be,” shared Chaminade senior Arielle Regis. “I learned always to ask myself why I’m doing an intervention in order to know whether it is appropriate, justified, and beneficial for the patient. I also learned that as a nurse, I have an obligation to advocate for my patient regardless of what anyone else says or thinks. Another important thing I learned is that nursing is teamwork. It’s more than okay to ask for help. As a matter of fact, it’s vital to patient care and will save their life.”

The event provided an opportunity for Chaminade’s soon-to-be graduates to work side by side with their future RN peers and helped prepare them to be workforce ready.

Chaminade’s School of Nursing is a four year, full-time undergraduate program that offers a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. The unique program immerses students in nursing preparation with educational curriculum, human-patient simulations, community outreach projects, and service-learning and supervised clinical experiences. The curriculum for our undergraduates program is consistent with the Baccalaureate Essentials of Nursing produced by the American Association of Collegiate Nursing. The nursing program is fully accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.