Photograph courtesy of Missouri Baptist Medical Center
Missouri Baptist Medical Center and Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College will open a $12.6 million, 42,750 square-foot education, research, and training facility tomorrow that will graduate more than 100 nurses into the workforce annually. This location will be a satellite facility for the Goldfarb School of Nursing and will feature state-of-the-art simulation technology labs.
Missouri Baptist Medical Center offered a nursing diploma program for 100 years that closed in 2000 and now, due to the demand for higher levels of nursing education, the new nursing school is organized around a four-year bachelor's program, with the first two years of general education to be completed at an outside university.
"Our tagline is to produce work-ready nurses that have the competency and confidence to go into the workforce after they graduate," explains Tim Mislan, vice president and chief nurse executive of Missouri Baptist Medical Center. "Our vision is for MoBap to be known as the teaching and research hospital for nursing in the St. Louis area."
A cornerstone of the new campus is their simulation technology program, which uses interactive mannequins with electronic features that professors can alter to simulate possible patient reponses in real-world situations.
"Simulation with these very advanced mannequins takes the fear out for the students when they get to the real world," explains Mislan, "and allows them to make mistakes and participate in group education, which really accellerates the learning process."
One reason for the new school, Mislan says, is the expected increased demand of nurses due to a large aging population, which will require more care, and an aging population of nurses that will be leaving the workforce. Also, healthcare has become much more complex, requiring the nurses to become the key coordinators of care, requiring a higher level of education.
As of today, the school has 56 students but hopes to expand to 200 students by the end of the year. As a satellite facility for the Goldfarb School of Nursing, the new location will feature the same professors and the same classes as the main campus.
Missouri Baptist Medical Center's next goal, Mislan says, is to open a regional collaborative center of nursing research.
For more information about the new location, visit missouribaptist.org.
