Clinical Simulation Center
The History:
The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) representatives met with representatives from regional nursing programs and the Executive Director of the Roanoke Higher Education Center (RHEC) on June 8, 2005 to explore ways of partnering with public and private entities to maximize the use of scarce resources, address the shortage of nursing faculty, and explore alternatives for clinical education of nursing students.
Since then, Radford University, the Jefferson College of Health Sciences, Wytheville Community College, New River Community College, Virginia Western Community College, and Patrick Henry Community College have unanimously endorsed a collaborative effort of nursing educators to develop strategies to address the nursing shortage.
RU School of Nursing assumed leadership in developing the concept and submitting a proposal to the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV) for creating, maintaining and sustaining two Nursing Clinical Simulation Centers (CSC)—one at RHEC and one at RU West—as collaborative ventures between nursing education programs and public/private healthcare facilities in this region. With the support of SCHEV, the proposal was included in the Governor’s Budget for the next biennium. Funding for the project was allocated to Radford University in July 2006.
Vision
Nursing CSC will provide a hands-on learning experience in an environment that is safe and realistic, producing quality nurses with enhanced critical thinking abilities, communication skills and collaboration experience.
Goals
The goals of the Clinical Simulation Centers are to:
- Maximize utilization of scarce resources: fiscal, technological, human, and clinical sites.
- Standardize competency to promote safety and quality patient care
- Recruit students into the profession and recruit professional nurses as clinical faculty
The Clinical Simulation Centers:
- Will be training and assessment
centers that include the following simulation technologies:
Standardized patients (SPs), full-size electromechanical human
patient simulators (HPS), virtual reality programs/simulators (VR),
computer assisted instruction (CAI), and telecommunications equipment to link
laboratory to classroom.
- Standardized patients (SPs) are individuals trained to simulate (or act-out) medical conditions accurately and repeatedly in a “standardized” way.
- Electromechanical human patients simulators (HPS) are life-size plastic manikins (adult, child and baby) that “breathe,” “speak” through a microphone with trainees, have palpable pulses, a heartbeat (normal and abnormal) and other signs and symptoms allowing the user to simulate human physiology.
Facilities
Each CSC will include:
- One intensive care room including - SimMan Patient Simulator and MegaCode Kelly with nursing and trauma modules
- One obstetric room including - SimBaby Infant Simulator, NOELLE Maternal and Neonatal Birthing Simulator with OB/GYN modules
- One medical/surgical room including – SimMan Patient Simulator and Nursing Kelly with nursing modules
- One pediatric room including – SimBaby Infant Simulator and MegaCode Kid with pediatric modules
- Two standardized patient rooms
- An apartment for homecare/community based/mental health simulation
- Multipurpose “smart” classroom with digital AV, middle and low fidelity manikins, and conference/debriefing area.
- A simulation control room
- Computer Classroom with virtual learning and computer assisted instruction programs
- Reception and staff office space
How Does the CSC Affect Patient Safety?
The CSC will enhance teaching-learning strategies by developing and maintaining proficiency in five core areas identified by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). These are delivering patient-centered care, working as part of interdisciplinary teams, practicing evidenced-based care, focusing on quality improvement, and using information technology. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) also supports enhanced safety and quality of health care by incorporating technology as fundamental support component of healthcare education programs and practice settings.
How does a CSC affect the nursing shortage?
Why a partnership of regional nursing programs?
Sharing resources for this expensive facility allows an economy of scale and gives all regional nursing programs access to this invaluable facility. Innovations in teaching and learning will be shared across programs for the long term benefit of the commonwealth of Virginia and its citizens.
Make a Donation to Radford University for this project