Acting the P FEATURES
Nursing and theatre students collaborate
on training exercise for both by Chuck Wasserstrom
Taylor is a 17-year-old with a history of asthma that has become increasingly troublesome. She's in the examination room with a cough, and it's getting harder and harder for her to breathe.
This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under grant number T94HP30920 and title, ClinicalAcademic Network for Developing Leaders.
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Chanda Okyere is asking questions, trying to figure out the triggers that have caused Taylor's latest issue. The situation is getting serious. But Taylor's lying. Well, not exactly lying. Acting. There are four Taylors on four different examination room tables in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's School of Nursing. Each is a UTC undergraduate theatre major participating in a simulation collaboration with students in the nurse practitioner program. Having the students pretend to be patients in emergency situations gives nurse practitioner students a chance to practice the steps needed in such situations without someone's life on the line, says Amber Roaché, coordinator for the nurse practitioner program in the School of Nursing. Simulations utilizing theatre students have been taking place at various points throughout the year. "One of the biggest changes we've made to our graduate program is having the simulated patient actors come in and portray real patients for our students," Roaché says. "They are able to get the hands-on training and do everything they need to do with a patient in a safe, controlled environment, and we can provide feedback immediately so they know what they’re doing well or where they may need some improvement. Okyere knew her Taylor—theatre student Maegan Whitlock—wasn't really in respiratory distress, but it sure felt like it. They both were using a script, yet both were improvising, Okyere explains. Neither knew what the other person would say, just like an actual examination room. "She was thinking through what you were asking her," says Okyere. "As I was doing the simulation, it helped me to get a realistic flow of everything. It was good to work with an actual person versus using a mannequin because the responses were real. UTC.EDU/NURSING
"Not knowing what the next answer is going to be, in my head I'm running a couple of different scenarios. Based on what she tells me, I can move on. Anything I asked, she answered right away. And she was very believable, so I didn't feel like it was an actor. I felt like I had a real patient." Roaché says seeds for the partnership were planted a couple of years ago after having a difficult conversation with one of her patients about a diagnosis. She shared the story of having a student with her in the room and asking the student to leave because of the rapport she possessed with her long-time patient. "I realized after we got out that it was such a disservice to the student; at that point, until they get into practice, they weren't getting experience having some of these difficult conversations with patients or experiencing some of these things," Roaché says. Having previously met Laurie Melnik Allen, executive director of the Arts Based Collaborative at UTC, Roaché reached out to her with an idea of mixing nursing and acting. Allen jumped at the chance. She has utilized the services of community actors in other collaborations, saying that she is always looking for ways to use theatre for nontraditional purposes. "Roleplay is something that helps a lot of professions helping to contextualize experience and prepare," she says. "Along with that, there is the opportunity for students in theatre to understand career pathways that may
