Tusculum College’s nursing program has been awarded a $116,159 grant from the Tennessee Health Foundation Review Committee, part of BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, for expansion of the nursing simulation lab.
Grant funds will be used to expand the nursing programs simulation laboratory by adding an infant and a child simulator for infant and pediatric nursing training.
According to Michelle Arbogast, associate director of foundation and donor relations, the purpose of this grant is to educate nursing students in practical clinical exercises without causing any harm to patients.
“It’s going to provide an alternative to the pediatric clinical,” said Dr. Lois Ewen, dean of the School of Nursing, health sciences and human services and professor of nursing. “Simulation allows us the opportunity to let students make their own decisions and see the consequences of those decisions. We all learn from our mistakes, but in health care we can’t let a student make the wrong decision. With simulation, we can allow mistakes to happen.”
The infant and child simulators will join two adult simulators purchased through a previous grant from the BCBS and the Tennessee Health Foundation in spring 2013.
The simulation lab will also provide opportunities for other academic programs at Tusculum to learn, such as physiology courses in the science and physical education departments and the athletic training program, as well as other health care organizations in the Greeneville community.
Dr. Ewen said, “We’re going to use the simulators to help the community train nursing staff, too. We will open the lab to our partners, and they’ll use our simulators to help train their staff, which enhances the health of our community as a whole.”
By Corrine Absher, senior digital media major from Kingsport