NEWARK, Del.- With the ongoing shortage of nurses in the workforce comes the difficult responsibility of higher education across the country. But in Newark, the University of Delaware is taking on the task to make the importance of nurses and medical education known. The nursing program at the university exemplifies the importance of this career by making clinicals an in class experience with a state-of-the-art simulation with real people.
Nursing Student Ben Korleski, who now helps in conducting the simulation for other students said, "We're one of the first programs to come out with things like this. It really helps because you can control the environment and if you were like in a hospital setting you'd have to wait for a patient that's like perfect for this environment.."
With the use of the University’s Healthcare Theatre Program, other students act as the patient and wear gear to allow the nursing students to practice actual procedures without the potential to cause harm to the live ‘patient’. The simulation has been especially useful since the start of the pandemic.
Elizabeth Speakman, senior associate dean of Nursing, said, "During the pandemic when we had a very small time when we couldn't go into the hospital it was simulation that was able to help us get over that hump and be able to use those simulated activities in lieu of being able to go to the clinical environment."
The simulation makes for good practice in the classroom and it is a way faculty hope students will build a skill set necessary for the workforce. This is a program students like Sofia Ciniglia looked forward to when choosing to attend the University of Delaware.
"Definitely doing simulation and practicing on mannequins and other students helps us build a lot more confidence in our skills and just even connecting on a person to person basis. So once I do this, I feel way more comfortable going into the clinical setting and really creating rapport with my patient and then actually administering the care that they need. So simulation and perfecting your skills helps tremendously transitioning", said Sofia Ciniglia
Just last month, the University’s President Dr. Dennis Assanis made an appeal for $7.3 million to the state's Joint Finance Committee for which he plans to use for the growing needs of the health sciences and its graduating students. That has yet to be approved, but will contribute to technologies like these real-life simulations and clinical opportunities through Beebe.