The Sul Ross State University Nursing Department has been awarded a grant for more than $157,000 from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for simulation lab equipment and faculty training.
“We are thrilled,” Dr. Minerva Gonzales, the director of the nursing program, said in a press release. “Our students will benefit greatly as a result of this grant.”
In the grant application, Dr. Gonzales explained that educating student nurses in a rural community offers unique challenges, especially in the clinical setting. Inpatient census fluctuates and rural hospitals often cannot provide adequate clinical time for students. Simulation is an effective teaching strategy that can be used to supplement experiences that mimic the reality of a clinical environment and are designed to demonstrate procedures, decision-making and critical thinking.
The grant funds will be used to ensure the simulation lab has the equipment necessary to provide effective experiences and evidence-based training for faculty through the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL), and to appropriately evaluate the exercises, the release said.
Among the equipment furnished by the grant are infusion pumps for intravenous medication administration, sample medication and port delivery with wristband and barcode printers, white boards to simulate patient communication, cubicle curtains, vital sign monitors and documentation simulation software. The full grant total is $157,094.
