Keeping it Cool in Critical Care: New Equipment Update

Pictured: Dr. Sharon Coffey (left,) Dr. Anna Aultman (center), and Dr. Tracy Thornton (right) in the UAH CON LTRC

"Keep it cool" with us in critical care! After teaching nursing clinical part-time for the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) College of Nursing (CON) in the Surgical Trauma ICU at Huntsville Hospital for a few years, I had the privilege of joining the CON faculty full-time in fall 2018. I continued working with a wonderful team for the undergraduate NUR 401: Nursing Care of the Critically Ill Adult course, commonly referred to as "Critical Care". I noticed there was a need for additional critical care equipment in the Learning Technology Resource Center (LTRC) to help students apply challenging class content and fine-tune patient care skills for the critically ill and injured population. I spoke with the LTRC director and CON dean to see if it was possible for items from the course team’s "Critical Care Equipment Santa Wishlist" to be purchased. The CON Dean, Dr. Marsha Adams, wrote a grant to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama Caring Foundation who funded through a grant the purchasing of this essential equipment. We were blessed to purchase the following fully functional critical care equipment: (a) Level 1 Rapid Infuser that can warm and infuse an entire unit of blood (~350 mL) in under 5 minutes, (b) two Maquet Servo 1 mechanical ventilators, (c) Philips BiPAP Ventilator with masks, (d) 3M Bair Hugger warming unit and blanket, (e) 12-lead EKG machine, (f) Kangaroo enteral feeding pumps, (g) two peripheral nerve stimulators for IV chemical paralytic assessment, (h) two sequential compression device pumps, (i) hemodynamic monitoring devices, (j) ventriculostomy drains, and (k) barcode scanning software for medication administration simulation. We have a blast in the critical care course and truly enjoy helping students understand some of the most difficult topics in nursing. We hope you will consider a high-quality nursing education at The University of Alabama in Huntsville College of Nursing!