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Pitt State received about $6 million in donations in order to build a new simulation nursing hospital. Currently, there is no set date for the start of the construction of the hospital.
“I’m really excited,” said Annie Vaters, junior in nursing. “I don’t know if I’ll be here by the time that it’s completed, since I’m already in my first year of nursing school, so I only have one more but it’s a really exciting idea for the future classes to come through because it’s just going to give it an even more realistic experience for what it’s actually like to work in a hospital,”
The simulation will be built by McPherson Hall, which houses the Irene Ransom Bradley school of nursing.
“Every student is able to go in, be given a scenario that they work through, then it is the same situation for every student as opposed to being in the hospital that’s just the luck of the draw of what kind of patient you have that day,” said Cheryl Geifer, director of the Irene Ransom Bradley school of nursing. “That way every student can be evaluated in the very same manner on a human patient simulator.”
The simulation hospital will have four simulation labs, a control room, and a debriefing room.
“I know for myself personally I never worked in a hospital before starting nursing school, and so going to clinicals is my first time doing a lot of things,” Vaters said. “…I think I could have learned, or future students can learn just things to expect for one, then also they’ll learn those skills, just practicing how to enter a patient’s room, how to first talk to a patient, how to take out medication, and it also just teaches you what a general hospital floor looks like if you never been working in a hospital like I had never been before. Just a lot of different skills that you don’t get when you don’t have a set up like that.”
The hospital will help nursing students prepare for their future job.
“I think it’s going to help prepare students more even just for clinicals or even going into a real job in the future because like I mentioned it’s just a more real experience, it’s going to be set up just like a real hospital, and you’re going to get to take medications, and just getting to practice all of those skills just like it would be in a hospital is just a really nice way to help prepare students what to expect,” Vaters said.
The donation was gifted by the John U. Parolo Education Trust and other anonymous donors.
“I think it’s a really awesome idea, I’m thankful for the donors who did this, I believe they said they’re staying anonymous but I think it’s just a really generous thing for them to do, and I think it’s an awesome opportunity for future students that are going here to Pitt State to get a great education and learning experience,” Vaters said.