NURSING LEARNING LAB
The Mount’s Nursing Program is committed to providing educational and experiential opportunities for nurses to meet new challenges to respond to the nursing needs of people in whatever setting they may be found. The curriculum integrates the liberal arts and sciences using a value-centered approach with the knowledge and skills essential for patient-centered nursing practice.
The Nursing Learning Lab supports this curriculum by adding a Simulation Suite and expanding labs and classrooms where students study nursing skills, health assessment, maternity, pediatrics, pharmacology, medical-surgical, and critical care. Advancements in simulation technology provide students with high-tech, high-touch equipment for learning.
The Nursing Learning Lab is located on the two levels of
Aquinas Hall (between the Library and Chapel) to accommodate a growing enrollment in nursing, and features the following:
Simulation Suite
The main level features simulation labs designed as typical hospital rooms, but wired for technology and simulation learning.
- Simulation Lab I: Students gain in-depth experience in practicing nursing skills using a high-fidelity simulation manikin (SimMan® 3G) programmed for human-like responses to routine medical interventions as well as emergencies, such as cardiac arrest. Students learn to think critically and how to make good clinical judgments in a risk-free patient setting.
- Simulation Lab II: Students practice routine interventions with the SimNewB ™ high-tech infant manikin that has newborn traits in this second lab outfitted with a Patient Care Station. Students find they are able to more accurately count a newborn’s rapid heart rates in clinical rotations after simulation practice.
- Simulation Technology Center:The high-tech center between the labs is where the lab coordinator operates the simulation curriculum and records practice sessions for review and feedback. The student nurse works independently at a Patient Care Station with the manikin while faculty observe via a one-way window for immediate feedback.
- Intravenous (IV) Simulation Lab: Students get continual feedback from a technology program as they practice IV injections virtually and with manikin parts. Students use this lab for practice in-between classes.
Skills Labs
The second level more than doubles the space and equipment used in the former nursing lab. Students use these two new labs for skills, health assessment and medication administration sessions.
- Patient Care Lab:The hospital-like setting, with 12 patient care stations fully equipped with hospital beds, cabinets, bedside tables, working headboards and equipment, models what nurses will use for patient care. Students practice interventions on adult-size Nursing Kelly manikins for training in patient care in a wide range of scenarios. Students also have secure 24/7 access to the lab to practice their skills.
- Dual Classroom/Skills Lab: This dual learning space is used for health assessment and medication instruction including classroom space for discussion and faculty evaluation. The lab contains 10 new plinths (exam tables). Desks and chairs wheel for maximum usage of the lab.
- Washer/Dryer Station: An onsite facility to clean bedding and clothing is cost-effective and efficient solution for the lab and also provides storage for equipment. Bed sheets and manikin gowns are routinely washed after use in the labs.
Nursing Lab Patio
Outdoor space serves students, faculty and guests in the Nursing Learning Lab.
The Nursing Learning Lab also adds a chair lift, essential storage space for equipment and technology, and office space that offers flexibility for future growth.