As seen in Live 5 News, by Sydney Ryan
The Citadel’s Swain Department of Nursing unveiled its new 2,000 square foot human simulation lab Friday.
In this lab, cadets can learn medical skills in an interactive way on realistic mannequins.
Nursing students can learn basic skills like measure blood pressure and pulses. They can advance to more critical situations with the mannequins like dealing with heart attacks and strokes.
“There are six mannequins that are high-fidelity and low-fidelity,” Ruth Henderson said. She runs the human simulation lab for nursing students at The Citadel. “It literally is life or death. We can prepare our students for emergency situations.”
“It gives them exposure to high-risk, low-volume, problem prone situations that they might see,” Swain Nursing Department Head Amy Joseph said. “We are really fortunate to have such advanced technology in our program.”
These human simulations can even blink and respond verbally to students.
“Most nursing programs don’t have them or the hands on experience that you get in a hospital,” nursing program Cadet Caricia Rodriguez said. “Having these is great for the experience to know what it’s like with a real person. It helps a lot because you know what to do in a situation when you’re in the hospital.”
“The patient talks and has family. We can make it very realistic,” Henderson said.
Department staff says launching the new lab is a big step towards bettering the new program. The next step is undergoing review for accreditation in the fall.
“The result will be even better healthcare in our community, in South Carolina and in our nation,” Col. John Weinstein said. Weinstein is the interim dean of the Citadel School of Science and Mathematics.
The Citadel Swain Department of Nursing started last summer in 2017. Staff anticipates graduating its first class in the spring of 2019.
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