Nursing Simulation Laboratory
The Nursing Simulation Laboratory is designed to provide students with hands-on clinical experiences. The clinical opportunities in simulated specialty units include:
- Pediatric lab
- Critical care lab
- Home health lab
- Maternity/Newborn lab
- Health assessment/Skills labs
- Advance practice primary care suite
Each unit integrates various fidelities of human patient simulators, in which students encounter patient situations with symptoms, diseases, and conditions common in a traditional clinical setting. Simulating “real-life” situations in the simulation lab, provides students with opportunities to enhance development of nursing skills, teamwork, interdisciplinary communication, critical thinking, and clinical judgment skills. Students experiences in the lab include utilization of some of the most current technology in healthcare settings including:
- IV pumps
- EKG machine
- Medication carts
- Unit-specific crash carts
- Electronic Health Record
- Defibrillators (CPR manikin with feedback)
The nursing simulation lab also has control rooms that are adjacent to most specialty units. These rooms are for observation and recording of clinical simulations, which are utilized for reflection and debriefing of simulations. There is also a student lounge and study area, where students have access to a library of nursing textbooks, reference materials, wireless internet, and cable television. An electronic message board in the hallway indicates lab hours, nursing class schedule, and special events at Penn State and within the College of Nursing.
