San Antonio, Texas is a good place to be if you're a nurse. According to Workforce Solutions Alamo, the demand for nursing jobs in the county will increase by 1,800 positions in the next four years. This is good news for the University of Texas Health Science Center, the only college in the region that offers a doctorate nursing progam. The Health Science Center educates more than 800 students per year in its nursing college alone.
In order to better train these students, the Health Science Center has recently opened its Nursing Simulation Center. This 7,281 square foot building houses a trauma center, intensive care unit, surgical unit, a pedicatric care suite, and a maternal care center. The interior is largely based on the nearby University Hospital, where many of the prospective nurses will be working.
The Nursing Simulation Center provides a unique training experience for nursing students that goes beyond the books. Each "patient" is a state of the art mannequin that can breathe, blink, secrete fluids, and transmit the voice of an operator in a nearby room. The idea is to make the situation as close to reality as possible, so that students can experience critical situations in real time without putting lives on the line.
While some students find the mannequins slightly creepy at first, most students feel more empathy towards them as the situation becomes more critical. Working directly in a scenario and realizing that there isn't a textbook response to every patient makes the nurse see the patient as an individual, whom they can get attached to. According to James Cleveland, assistant professor of nursing at the university, students have even cried when a simulated patient dies.The nursing program at the University of Texas Health Science Center stands to benefit greatly from the of the Nursing Simulation Center. The new extension was made possible by $3.5 million in grants, which came from contributors such as the U.S. Economic Development Administration, Methodist Healthcare Ministries, and the University Health System. For more detailed funding statistics, please click the button below.
The expanding Health Science Center is home to Biotechnology Calendar, Inc.'s annual Bioresearch Product Faire™, which will take place on September 27, 2012. Biotechnology Calendar is a full-service event marketing and planning company producing on-campus life science research tradeshows nationwide for 20 years. We plan and promote each event to bring the best products and services to the best research campuses across the country. If you are interested in attending one of our shows, please navigate the buttons below.