Photograph by Jonathan Pollack
Today, nursing education involves far more than lectures: Simulation technology is making it possible for students to experience a wide range of healthcare situations. In January, Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College partnered with Missouri Baptist Medical Center to open a $12.6 million facility on the hospital’s main campus with some of the most advanced simulation technology available in the area.
The nearly 43,000-square-foot facility is organized around a four-year bachelor’s-degree program, with the first two years of general education to be completed at an outside university. The school hopes to have approximately 100 students per year graduate, with 35 to 40 students in each of the three terms’ graduating classes.
The training’s cornerstone is the advanced simulation technology program, which uses interactive mannequins with electronic features that professors can alter to simulate possible patient responses, both physically and emotionally. The school was the first in the U.S. to use a particular high-fidelity birthing simulator that can mimic possible complications, such as hemorrhages and seizures.
“We’re really focusing on ways to look at doing team training for those high-risk situations in the safe environment of simulation, where people can practice and really look at what went well and what they can do better,” says Kathy Sturm, manager of nursing professional practice and development and academic partnerships at Missouri Baptist Medical Center. “Many hospitals are really starting to see the benefit of doing team training, and simulation adds a nice piece to that.”
One of the school’s major goals is to expand group education using simulation technology from bachelor’s-degree education to advanced-practice nursing education.
“As we look at physicians and nursing and how we all work together to improve practices and care, there’s so much opportunity,” Sturm says. “It’s definitely within our strategic plan to develop nurses at all levels and get programs going for the various different levels of nursing.”
