File:Sarah Mills, Amber Groves and Tim Robinson after 2012 Germanna Nursing Idol competition (6890401510).jpg

Amber Groves (center) won the RN portion of the 2012 Germanna Community College Nursing Idol competition. She's a 1999 Brooke Point graduate who lives in Locust Grove. Tim Robinson finished second and Sarah Mills third. “The judges made it a learning experience,” Groves said. She admitted she was nervous going into the competition, but, “It was better than I expected because I was able to stand up there with people with knowledge and expertise beyond my years." The intellectual competition required students to demonstrate knowledge of diagnostic tests, medications and nursing interventions--including those necessary for psychological problems. Students had to think quickly on their feet, competing under pressure in front of a crowd of 350 of their GCC peers and 50 Germanna faculty members.

 The contest is something of a showcase for the effectiveness of Germanna's Virtual Hospital as a teaching tool. 

The Virtual Hospital, GCC President David A. Sam said, provides a “safe, but not comfortable” environment in which students must diagnose and “treat” high-tech human simulator “patients” who may “die” if the students make mistakes. It’s safe in the sense that real patients aren’t in jeopardy as students learn, but it’s stressful for the students, who are on their own and who often become so involved they forget the “patients” aren’t real. He said Germanna nursing department faculty do a good job of preparing students for the most difficult real world situations by bringing in actors to play distressed family members and even baby-snatchers. The competition, said judge Dr. Robert Harry, “puts students on the hot seat. This is a spinoff of the Virtual Hospital.”

 The Virtual Hospital simulates a real hospital environment to the point that, “The faculty even plants mistakes on patient charts,” Groves said. “But they don’t do it to defeat you, they do it to prepare you for situations you might encounter.”