DUSON and the Duke Center for IPEC Hosts Annual Haunted Mansion
The Duke University School of Nursing (DUSON) and the Duke Center for Interprofessional Education and Care (IPEC) hosted its annual Haunted Mansion event on Thursday, October 26, where students from various disciplines participated in a Halloween-themed multi-professional simulation of health care. With two identical sessions happening simultaneously in adjacent buildings. Students rotated through in four stations, offering hands-on activities such as caring for burn wounds, performing ultrasounds and halting blood loss. In the sessions, there were three bonus activities that gave students the opportunity to practice intubation with a nurse anesthetist, learn about mental health well-being and using a nasal drug for overdose reversal.
“Even though it’s meant to be fun and entertaining, it also has a lot of good learning built into it,” said Associate Professor Margie Molloy, who helped organize the 8th annual event along with Duke Academy for Health Professions Education and Academic Development (AHEAD), Duke Area Health Education Center (AHEC) and volunteers in the various schools. Despite the costumes and playful nature of the event, the main purpose is to highlight the roles of different disciplines in health care and how providers should work as a team for the best patient outcome, Molloy said.
Volunteers and student participants represented the professions of nursing, medicine, physician assistant, physical therapy and occupational therapy and this year included a group of undergraduate emergency medical technicians (EMTs) who attended. A few social work and chaplain students were also in attendance. Molloy estimates about 100 students participated this year.
"Evidence points out that most errors that occur in the hospital are because of lack of communication or a serious breakdown in communication,” Molloy said. “So if we have these students really learn to act together on a team, they’ve had this opportunity to really understand each other and value each other’s role in the care of the patient.” This year’s event included an escape room, where students had to solve clues to get out of the room, which was created by two emergency room doctors, and a station called Hocus POCUS, which stands for point of care ultrasound. The burn station involved a mad scientist with a chemical burn, sparking questions like, how do we care for the wound? What is the role of the physical therapist and occupational therapist after discharge?
In the classroom, students are trained to understand that there is no hierarchy in patient care, but rather each person on the team is important, and that learning should continue into the real world. “The housekeepers are a part of your team, the social workers, the dieticians,” Molloy said. “Everybody has a voice and has to be called upon for their expertise when you’re taking care of a patient.”