Carlow University Unveils Its New Nursing Skills Lab $1.5 Million Project Provides Advanced Technology, Computer Simuations for Students by Andrew Wilson
Carlow University unveiled its new Nursing Skills Laboratory, located on the fourth floor of Curran Hall, on Monday, December 10, 2007.
Janice Nash, MSN, assistant professor, (far right), instructs students on proper bedside care in the nursing skills lab.
The nursing skills lab, which resembles a six-bed acute care unit, provides students with the opportunity to practice nursing techniques such as listening for heart arrhythmias on lifelike mannequins that simulate a patient’s breathing, pulse rates, and levels of consciousness. The mannequins are even programmed to say a few words to the students or writhe in pain. An instructor, standing behind doublesided glass, can control the mannequin’s reactions to the students’ care. Each student’s performance is videotaped, so the instructor can demonstrate exactly what went right or wrong with the way the students cared for the mannequin.
“The nursing skills lab gives us a safe environment to practice nursing skills,” says Michele Upvall, PhD, associate dean and director of the School of Nursing at Carlow, who added that advances in medical simulation allow the school to expose students to things they might not see during a hospital rotation. “When you take students to a hospital setting, they may not be exposed to every disease process, but we can expose them to different scenarios in the lab, and they develop confidence to deal with this situation in a clinical setting.”
Dr. Mary Hines, president of Carlow University, Nick Beldecos, executive director of the DSF Charitable Foundation, and Helen Hanna Casey, chair of Carlow’s Board of Trustees, at the unveiling of the donor plaque for the nursing skills lab.
Carlow University received special funding from Eden Hall Charitable Foundation, the DSF Charitable Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, the A.J. and Sigismunda Palumbo Charitable Trust, the George I. Alden Trust, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, the Bozzone Family Foundation, The Rust Foundation, and the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry through the Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board. The total cost of the project was $1.5 million.
“Carlow’s nursing program is one of the region’s oldest and most respected programs, with more than 4,000 of its nurses serving here in Western Pennsylvania and around the country,” said Patrick Joyce, EdD, vice president of Advancement and Government Relations for Carlow University. “The foundations responded to the critical and increasing health care needs of our region and in recognition of the ability of Carlow’s nursing program to serve those needs. While they were impressed with the history and growth of Carlow, they were moved to invest in the vision of the program our nursing educators proposed.”
Carlow University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, 3624 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104. (267-284-5000)
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education is an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the
US. Secretary of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.
