The College of Health is blessed by the vast amount of clinic, lab and simulation spaces between the Health Professions and the Health and Human Performance Buildings. Some of the equipment most people have used or encountered, like treadmills, ellipticals, bikes, free weights, or hospital beds, IV pumps, crash carts. This equipment is standard issue for many clinical and hospital settings, and in rehabs or fitness centers.  But we have a lot of vital technology to help with educating future healthcare professionals and faculty research, which you might not know about… we’ve highlighted some of the newest technology we’ve acquired.

Videostroboscopy Unit for Speech Pathology

The Videostroboscopy Unit, is used to help teach Speech Pathology students anatomy specific to their practice. “They do their own simulation lab with the purpose to not just memorize but understand the anatomy and identify structures appropriately.  I give them case studies and quizzes afterward using photos and information learned with the manikins.  Working knowledge and skills is imperative and feedback in the community tells us that our SLP grad students are second to none! Off campus supervisors are very complimentary with the skills students have learned while on campus.” said Dawn Condon, Clinical Lecturer of Speech Language Pathology
The Videostroboscopy unit is a key piece of equipment used not only with the manikins in lab, but later on student clinicians, may use it with patients seeking treatment and diagnosis in the Interprofessional Community Clinic. The equipment  is a way to visualize the larynx to determine its function.  We record and review in detail for mobility, structure, and function issues.  We can evaluate voice or in the case of the manikins, swallowing.  FEES (Fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing) as an assessment to determine swallowing skills.  It is typically used in acute care and many skilled nursing facilities.  FEES can also be used with newborns in the NICU.

The BOD POD for the IEPL Lab

The BOD POD is housed in the Integrative Exercise Physiology Laboratory (IEPL). It uses air displacement plethysmography to determine body composition, aka body fat percentage.  Fat mass and body composition influence our risk of various chronic illnesses, including coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, and various cancers. Furthermore, body composition can impact athletic performance. The BOD POD is a sophisticated device that provides rapid and highly accurate body composition information with minimal discomfort to participants. The results we get from this device can provide important information about a person’s overall health, the effectiveness of nutritional and exercise interventions, and one’s potential for various athletic performances.

This technology is often used in health research. Some of our faculty within the School of Kinesiology, investigate how nutrition or exercise interventions influence body composition.
Paul Nagelkirk, Department Chair of the School of Kinesiology, Associate Prof Exercise Science, Director of Integrative Exercise Physiology Lab, said “One example of this is a recent study that documented how a relatively brief period of strength training led to significant increases in lean body mass without changing fat mass. Other research studies focus on the fact that body composition may influence various physiological responses.  For example, we observed that a person’s body composition affected how much their blood clotting potential changed during one single bout of exercise.”
Students in the undergraduate Exercise Science program are taught a variety of ways to assess body composition and get the opportunity to experiment with the BOD POD in our Exercise Science 202 class. And graduate students in various Kinesiology master’s degree programs may use the BOD POD in their research.

Nursing Simulation & Information Technology Center (NSITC)

Simulation Manikins can communicate with students through technology that enables someone in the control room to speak through the manikin utilizing microphone that is connected to speakers within the manikin. Our center includes specialty specific manikins; these manikins range ability to simulate labor and childbirth to emergency airway management, including intubation.  The NSITC supports learning across the lifespan, housing ~30 manikins and encompassing premature and term infant care, pediatric, women’s health, adult, and geriatric simulation-based experiences. “Simulation-based experiences are designed in collaboration with faculty content experts, simulation specialists, and information technology specialists. Each group brings valuable best practice insights ensuring a well-rounded and evidence-based practice experience that aligns with current healthcare practices. There is very little we couldn’t simulate within our labs when considering our ability to integrate static models alongside high-fidelity equipment and technology, said Dani Ely, Director for Nursing Simulation & Information Technology Center.

Nursing students get a wide variety of patient care scenarios with the manikin technology. Rachelle Fuller, Clinical Lab Specialist, who helps facilitate simulations said “I like working with Mini Sim, Final Sim and Leadership and Management Sim best. I love interacting with our volunteers for Final Simulation where they volunteer in a patient bed and have a diabetic (fake) foot wound.  I also enjoy creating impromptu scenarios with the different stations for students doing Mini Sim, it is fun to see their reactions. Finally, I enjoy wrapping up with Senior students who have almost reached full circle in their program. They are learning to put all their learning and clinical experience to action with Leadership and Management Sim. They are basically running through a simulation that mimics nursing experience in the real world. They will delegate, prioritize care and time management. It is rewarding to encourage students and to help them be the best they can be so that they can find success and fulfill their calling as a nurse.”

The NSITC has a variety of manikins that fall within the following fidelity categories: static or low, medium, and high. High fidelity manikins vary in functionality depending on their manufacturer, but overall high-fidelity manikins are designed to mimic human physiology. The high-fidelity manikins within the NSITC at Ball State University have the following capabilities: dilating and constricting pupils to aid in performing neurologic assessments; expanding chests with breath sounds to enable students to both count and auscultate lung sounds in all fields; measurement capability for manual blood pressure and palpation of radial pulses. Along with these physical assessment capabilities, technological components pair with assessment findings to provide a clinical picture.

One of the most exciting parts of moving into the Health Professions Building are the number of simulations taking place that are outside of Nursing. Becky Fights, Nursing Clinical Lab Specialist, said “Our simulation support team has had a greater opportunity to work with several other disciplines in the College of Health in simulations. My personal favorite simulation ever is the Athletic Training Spine Boarding Simulation. Our high-fidelity manikin dressed in football gear is down on the “field” with an open humerus fracture. A.T. students have to prioritize, remove the helmet safety while stabilizing the cervical spine, and put the player safety on a spine board while assessing and reassuring him. This all takes place with the additional fidelity of game day crowd noise in the room and a backdrop screen of our BSU football stadium at a homecoming game. The students all work together, communicate and effectively protect the player and his airway until emergency crews arrive. It’s so rewarding to see our wonderful College of Health students gain experience with real-world situations!