Advancing Clinical Teaching and Practice for Future Healthcare Professionals By Mary-Ann Dogo-Isonagie Baltimore 12/09/2009 - In August 2008, the Simulation Center at Coppin State University (CSU) for the Helene Fuld School of Nursing (HFSON) was established to advance and to enhance nursing education initiatives at CSU. “The vision as we moved forward to our health and human services building opening, was to have a facility that would be capable of educating our nursing students using technology,” said Dr. Marcella Copes, Dean of the Helene Fuld School of Nursing, and Interim Provost/Vice President of Academic Affairs. “We want to first give students an opportunity to provide nursing interventions in simulated experiences before they go into the clinical area to provide nursing interventions to clients. We also want to address the nursing shortage.” These state-of-the-art patient simulators are designed to emulate human-like features which will provide future healthcare professionals an understanding of how to provide nursing interventions to patients. The simulators mirror the anatomical and physiological workings of the human body. This allows students to sharpen their clinical skills and patient safety practices using medical simulators alongside cutting-edge technology with the direct guidance of the Helene Fuld School of Nursing faculty. Each simulation laboratory is fully equipped with various operational equipment and high-fidelity manikins that allow the environment to be a realistic depiction of the hospital environment. The Simulation Center (Sim Center) is located on the fourth floor of the newly built Health and Human Services Building. The Sim Center has seven clinical areas and is utilized by graduate and undergraduate nursing students. There are two medical surgical lab high-fidelity simulators, two high-fidelity pediatrics/obstetrics simulators, and two high-fidelity advanced medical surgical simulators. “We are excited, because our graduate students will look at this arena as a potential area for future research,” said Dr. Rena-Boss Victoria, director of the Sim Center. “Hence, this simulation center will open many avenues and opportunities for students as well as faculty. We recognize that many of our students will perform better in the practical component of nursing because they have a hands-on-experience. This will ultimately enhance the level of performance by experience.” According to Dr. Boss-Victoria, the simulators utilized in the Sim Center allows for the physical assessment of various clinical signs including: heart/breath/sounds, palpable pulses, chest excursion, and airway patency that are dynamically modeled using mathematical algorithms of human physiology and pharmacology. Coppin’s HFSON Sim Center is one of the newest and largest in the eastern region, and is a key component in the university’s commitment to providing exceptional learning opportunities and fostering innovative clinical practices and teachings in nursing education. The remunerations of this center will go far beyond Coppin’s nursing school. It will aid in promoting health sciences and clinical practice competencies for medical care in the entire state. On August 2009, the Sim Center hosted the Eastern Regional Human Patient Care Simulation Education and Technology Integration Conference sponsored by the Medical Education Technologies Inc. (METI), a leading international producer and partner in the development of simulation systems. The two-day conference featured healthcare professionals and simulation experts focused on promoting the amplitude of simulation manikins and how institutions can integrate simulation into their nursing education and curriculum. The center is open six days a week, Monday through Saturday and is available for students to review and practice clinical skills and procedures. To learn more information about the HFSON Simulation Center, its Health Assessment Simulation Laboratories, or its Nursing Resource Center, contact the Helene Fuld School of Nursing at (410) 951- 6165.