ACLS Instructor Jenna Kennally is part of transforming clinicians' preparation for real-life emergencies at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH). Jenna was recently featured in the Wall Street Journal Business Partner Program, which showcased a groundbreaking in-house simulation program BCH has established to train physicians. As part of an educational exercise conceived by the Immersive Design Systems (IDS) team at BCH, real Code Blue scenarios are simulated to train and prepare clinicians for complex, high-pressure situations they’ll encounter in the workplace.
IDS' high-fidelity simulation lab training strives to replicate, with precision, the real-life environments encountered by clinicians like Kennally. The facilities they utilize precisely mirror those found in emergency rooms or ICUs. The "patients" they treat, sophisticated and high-tech mannequins, are capable of accepting IVs and breathing tubes, exhibiting bleeding, vocalizing, and simulating physiological symptoms crucial for comprehending internal processes. Intentional distractions, complications, and stressors are introduced, including colleagues portraying harried doctors and nurses from referring hospitals.
“IDS is a place where you can expand your knowledge and make mistakes in a safe environment,” Kennally says. In other words, it’s the world’s most realistic dress rehearsal, where each repetition reveals insights that could eventually save lives. It helps manage a medical professional’s thinking about how to deal with complex clinical decision-making and results in better, safer outcomes. Every simulation exercise is debriefed to decide what went well and where improvements can occur next time. Scenarios that may take ten years of experience to encounter can be simulated and mastered in this lab.
The precision of IDS' simulations is built on a rigorous training framework developed in-house at Boston Children’s and utilized globally. Renowned for its adoption of state-of-the-art immersive technology, IDS launched InventorSpace at Boston Children’s in 2016. This innovative studio integrates robotics, augmented reality, and various tools, including 3D printers capable of generating anatomically precise representations of actual patients. While these tools are commonly employed to aid clinical teams or innovate healthcare devices within a simulation context, they foster a level of realism essential for achieving a primary objective: enhancing participants' comprehension of the intricate dynamics within team scenarios.
IDS helps clinicians and surgical teams train for uniquely urgent and challenging cases. Additionally, the program has empowered clinicians to innovate in response to unforeseen challenges. During the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, IDS simulations proved instrumental in helping care teams comprehend the integration of new safety protocols into intricate medical procedures. They provided a platform to explore diverse methodologies before implementation with actual patients. This swift adaptation enabled Boston Children’s to maintain agility and efficiency amidst the constantly evolving landscape of information, facilitating seamless transitions from established practices.
Often, real emergency room cases inspire the IDS team to replicate them. After a child came through the ER with a brain hemorrhage requiring complex surgery, the chairman of neurosurgery reached out to IDS. He said, “I want everyone in my department to experience this event. I don’t want to wait until the next child presents for them to get more practice.”
When teams encounter situations where safety and care are urgent, IDS can pivot to quickly create simulations tailored to these types of critical requests. This helps clinicians improve their skills and provides opportunities for teams to review their processes through extensive debriefing.
More About Jenna Kennally, BSN, RN, CEN, CPEN
In early 2023, Jenna landed her dream job as an emergency transport nurse at Boston Children's Hospital. While she has enjoyed working with critical care patients in previous positions, she could always picture herself as a transport nurse. She recognizes the opportunities working with children in this capacity are few and far between and relishes the new experiences and nursing skills she will learn compared to her emergency room experience. Previously, as an emergency room charge nurse at South Shore Hospital and Metro West Medical Center, Jenna had addressed many critical care patient cases, trained other staff and student nurses, and even triaged patients in the hospital lobby. Though she enjoyed the emergency room nurse role with its controlled chaos and critical thinking, when the new opportunity arose, she knew she needed to go for it! As an emergency transport nurse assisting in inter-facility hospital transfers of ICU patients in the New England region, Jenna has broadened and advanced her scope of practice and embraces the educational opportunities, highlighting the lifelong learning process in nursing.
Jenna joined ACLS Academy in 2018 and teaches a wide range of classes, including ACLS, PALS, BLS, TNCC, ENPC, STOP THE BLEED, and Heartsaver courses.
ACLS Academy Founder and Instructors Take to the Podium at NERS
The New England Regional Symposium sponsored by ENA Massachusetts State Council was held April 25-27, 2024 in Plymouth, MA. ACLS Academy’s Dr. Shelley Lynch, Sheila Silva, DNP, RN, CEN, TCRN, and Jenna Kennally, BSN, RN, CEN, CPEN, were presenters at a session on “Upstream Thinking: Looking at the Social Determinants of Health in the Emergency Department.” Dr. Lynch holds a deep personal investment in Social Determinants of Health. If you follow our weekly blog postings, we recently highlighted Dr. Lynch’s keynote address, “The Extra One Degree: Lessons Learned from Building Partnerships in Global Health, she presented at UNC Health’s “The Beat Goes On” Conference.
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ACLS Academy is an authorized American Heart Association (AHA)- Aligned Training Center with three convenient locations in Massachusetts: Quincy, Bridgewater, and Newton Center. It provides high-quality courses, all taught by instructors practicing in the medical profession, for ACLS, TNCC, BLS, ENPC, NRP, PALS, Bloodborne Pathogen, Heartsaver CPR/AED, First Aid, and Instructor Courses. Please browse our catalog of courses.