PITTSBURG, Kan. — Officers at Pittsburg State College broke floor Thursday on a virtually $7 million simulation hospital to be constructed adjoining to McPherson Corridor, house to the Irene Ransom Bradley Faculty of Nursing.
The undertaking will embrace building of an roughly 10,000-square-foot addition, plus focused renovations to the present constructing that may accommodate cohorts of 120 college students, giving them the chance to “convey their expertise to their scientific websites and locations of employment after commencement,” stated Kathleen Flannery, president and CEO of the PSU Basis and vp of college development.
Highlights of the undertaking will embrace related management rooms, a debriefing room, a ready space, a research space, storage and restrooms. Mixed, the undertaking will contain roughly 24,000 sq. toes.
The groundbreaking marked an thrilling second for college and college students, stated Mary Carol Pomatto, a former director of the Faculty of Nursing and presently the dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences.
“The simulation hospital brings a lot extra to our college and to the college,” she stated. “It modifications the scholar expertise, and as , offering transformational experiences to our college students is what we do.”
These experiences are much more crucial within the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which shed a lightweight on the wants of well being care and the talents that will likely be required of future nurses, Pomatto stated.
“In gentle of the latest pandemic, demand from the well being care trade for certified nurses, suppliers and well being care staff has elevated,” she stated. “A simulation hospital outfitted with state-of-the-art expertise and tools will present an incredible, hands-on studying setting and permit instructors to stage real-life eventualities in a protected setting.”
College officers introduced the undertaking in January 2020, saying that it aligned with PSU’s strategic plan and would assist meet the demand for nursing graduates.
It was funded by presents from personal donors who acknowledged a have to develop entry to well being care professions to extra college students, stated Lynda Banwart, a nurse practitioner, graduate of the Faculty of Nursing and chair of the PSU Basis.
“Nurses should be ready to deal with the rise in calls for of sicker sufferers, new applied sciences and care environments which might be ever-changing,” she stated. “This simulation hospital will help college in getting ready nurses for this dynamic setting.”
