Clinical Simulation Laboratory

Located in the C wing of the Community Services Center off the main campus on 19th Street, the Clinical Simulation Laboratory provides an environment for students to practice and demonstrate nursing skills. Students learn psychomotor, physical assessment and critical-thinking skills necessary for clinical performance. Students have hands-on practice with the equipment and techniques they will need for the practice setting.

The History

The Health Careers Simulation Lab was funded by an APEX Grant from the Heart of Texas Workforce in 2002. The Simulation Laboratory experience is a critical component of learning and mastering nursing skills and knowledge.

Vision

The goal of the Simulation Lab is to increase strength in critical thinking, processing concepts and learning opportunities. These strengths will increase the likelihood of students being successful in the Associate Degree Nursing Program, passing the RN exam, as well as being safe practitioners. This is an interactional time for learning, and students will receive as much out of the experience as they put forth the effort. Students will be advised to self-reflect as they work through the activities and at times will be asked to critique their colleagues.

Purpose

Utilizing available technology, a properly designed stimulation lab better prepares and enhances the ability of nursing students to learn the necessary and required skills used by health care professionals. The lab provides students opportunities to develop proper health and safety skills that ensure competence.

About the Lab

The simulations may be based on pertinent clinical situations encountered, new theory content, difficult clinical situations encountered by students and theory content that tested poorly (indicating the students need instruction, in a different format, on that topic). All students are assigned a time in the Simulation Lab.

The Simulation Lab is equipped with a total of nine manikins with varying levels of technology. Each manikin rests either on a HillRom hospital bed or Stryker stretcher and is housed within a simulated hospital room with all necessary equipment to simulate patient care.

The Simulation Lab has three Sim Man manikins that breathe, speak, have pulses and cardiac monitory capabilities, and have realistic lung, heart and bowel sounds. The Lab also has a Sim Baby manikin, which has the same capabilities. "Noelle," a pregnant manikin, is also a part of the simulation experience at MCC. Noelle can give birth and simulate obstetric complications. An additional four low-fidelity manikins have realistic lung, heart and bowel sounds and allow students to practice urinary catheter and nasogastric tube insertion.

These real-life simulators offer a wide age range of "patients," from infants to elderly in both genders. They can be programmed to present many symptoms that challenge students' clinical and decision-making skills. They offer real patient-care scenarios; the simulators talk to students, and special pads even allow students to practice giving injections and other treatments.

By using simulators in place of human patients, students no longer have to rely on clinical rotations to gain all their experience. Many institutions have difficulty making room for nursing students because of limited space and resources, and now students can arrive in the clinical placements with greater background and experience than ever before.

Lab Equipment & Simulators

The following is a partial list of patient simulators and lab equipment from Laerdal Medical Corp. that is available for the support of the instructional staff and for the use of the nursing student:

  • SimMan (3)
  • SimBaby (1)
  • Virtual IV System (2)
  • MegaCode Kelly with multisounds
  • Nursing Anne Deluxe Plus
  • Advanced Nursing Anne
  • MegaCode Kid with ECG & multisounds
  • Chester Chest
  • Gatesville Child with multisounds
  • Deluxe Infant Care Doll plus
  • Baby Code with ECG & multisounds
  • Infant Care Doll

Contact Information

Susan Olson
Simulation Lab Coordinator
1400 College Drive
Waco, TX 76708
solson@mclennan.edu
(254) 299-8744