UW Nursing Faculty Member Invited to Apple Digital Innovation Boot Camp

University of Wyoming nursing faculty member J’Laine Proctor was selected by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) to participate in the 2019 AACN-Apple Digital Innovation Boot Camp in Austin, Texas, this summer.

“In keeping with the association’s strategic goal to serve as the driving force for innovation and excellence in academic nursing, AACN launched this initiative to provide new opportunities for nursing faculty to leverage the latest technology to enhance learning in the classroom, laboratory, online and clinical settings,” the organization says. “Those invited to participate in this highly interactive event will enjoy sessions on preparing digital content, developing iOS mobile apps and multitouch books, and creating an engaging learning environment.”

Only 35 nursing faculty members from across the nation have been selected to participate.

“I applied because I am trying to find innovative ways, using technology, to connect psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner students to patients who struggle with mental illness to develop and advance their clinical decision-making skills,” Proctor says. “My idea is similar to telemedicine, but using this live-video session as a learning tool for students -- having multiple students observing the same patient, using video conferencing to come up with a diagnosis and treatment plan for the patient.”

Proctor is a clinical assistant professor in UW’s Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing and works as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner at the Albany Community Health Clinic.

“I also would like to utilize this technology to replace standardized patients; instead of having students evaluate and treat a person acting as a patient, they could see a ‘real’ patient via video conferencing with the instructor present to assess student learning,” she says. “The applications of this technology could be endless. Another benefit of utilizing this technology would be that the student does not have to travel for these experiences. I’m excited to have the experience of going to Apple headquarters in Austin and having a team of Apple employees transform my vision into reality.”