Pre-Covid, we knew there was a looming healthcare provider shortage. Our communities did not have enough nursing staff to meet the growing demands of an aging population. The impacts to our healthcare system during the last couple years exacerbated those challenges with high burnout rates and early retirements. How can we encourage healthcare as a profession, and make sure students are prepared to care for people at all stages of life when they enter the field if we need to staff up quickly?
The nursing school at Simpson University in Redding, California sets the bar for impact. With a 3-year licensure pass rate of 97%, and a seventh place ranking by Nursing School Hub, Simpson’s nursing program is helping fill shortages in the region with rapid pace. Key to their success are several school labs, furnished to resemble hospital-like settings, and filled with technologically simulated patient manikins.
Textbook learning only goes so far when caring for humans. These labs with the simulated patient manikins allow students to practice what they learn in the classroom on life-sized, responsive manikins without the fear of hurting a real human. Students can practice procedures and responses to simulated ailments until they are confident in their abilities. Teachers can program the manikins to react and respond to the interventions in numerous ways, providing real-world scenarios a student may face in hospitals and care facilities.
As sophisticated and technology-dependent as these manikins are, they have a lifespan of about ten years. Simpson’s school of nursing needed a new simulation baby to help students learn newborn care. This new simulation baby responds to interventions in real time, allows the students to practice for after-birth medical emergencies, and most importantly, helps students gain confidence in their abilities to treat the smallest patients when every second counts.
The Ben B. Cheney Foundation is proud to partner with Simpson University’s school of nursing to help support our next generation nurses in their learning journey with a new simulation baby.
To learn more about Simpson University’s Betty M. Dean School of Nursing, visit simpsonu.edu/Pages/Academics/Majors/Nursing/.
To learn more about SimBaby, visit healthysimulation.com/simbaby/.