Just six months in, Odessa College Associate Dean for Health Sciences Lori Fierro-Iverson has toured the new Wood Health Sciences Building several times and is impressed.
Estimated cost of the four-story, 83,000-square-foot building is $45 million. The building is due to have classes in it soon, but a grand opening is scheduled for early September.
The Medical Center Health System Simulation Hospital is set up like an actual hospital. Students will be able to watch video of themselves to see how they do and there are mannequins that they can practice on, a neonatal intensive care unit, trauma room, in-patient rooms and others. There will also be classrooms, conference rooms and a community room.
“I think that this is going to be such an amazing opportunity not only for our students, but also for our community,” Fierro-Iverson said. “This is basically a full functioning hospital that we can provide students with a safe environment where they can learn, they can practice and finesse their skills and do it in a safe setting without causing any kind of patient harm.”
The simulated hospital will give programs a chance to work together and help students brush up on their soft skills before they go out into the industry.
“Everyone is collaborating together. That has never been done in an environment before in this area that I know of, so that soft skill is going to be developed. I think we’re really going to see our industry be surprised, but also grateful for the student’s opportunity to get that down and not be so awkward because that’s probably one of the most awkward things when they go into industry,” Fierro-Iverson said.
Before coming to OC, the Fort Stockton native had worked at the University of Texas El Paso and Midland College, among other places.
She is a registered nurse and earned her bachelor of science in nursing from UTEP, a master’s in nursing education and a doctorate in higher education and leadership from Maryville University of Saint Louis.
She added that she would like to bring in physician volunteers to talk to the students and people to volunteer to be patients.
“We want to invite the community to come. We’ll give them scripts, so you’ll be a heart attack patient and you’ll be a stroke patient,” and the students will have to talk to the patient in terms they can understand.
“You’ve got to learn how to talk to patients at different levels. One thing that I really am a big fan of is bringing chairs to the bedside when you’re talking to your patient because once you sit down and get on their level instead of having that standing up vs. the bed conversation, that barrier also tends to limit what patients will reveal because they’re nervous. If you sit down … then it becomes a conversation rather than an interview,” Fierro-Iverson said.
“I always tell them, you’re not making a chair. We’re taking care of a human that is unpredictable and I guarantee you, you are seeing them on their absolute worst day ever because they wouldn’t be there otherwise. So we have to be compassionate. We have to be understanding; we have to be empathetic,” Fierro-Iverson said.
Those skills can’t be taught from a book, but they can be in a safe environment.
“That’s why I like the idea of using our volunteers because some some people have actually gone through those things,” she added.
OC Vice President for Administrative Services Ken Zartner said tours will be offered after the building opens.
He said it really looks like you’re at MCH. It’s designed so that first responders bring a patient in and they make their way through the simulation hospital as if it were the actual facility.
The simulated ambulance mimics the things you would find in an actual ambulance as well.
“I can’t wait until the general public, students and everybody else can walk in there and just be amazed by it. It is a jewel in West Texas,” Zartner said.
