Sheldon, Iowa — A grant from the nonprofit license-holder of an area casino has helped a local college get some medical simulation equipment.
Northwest Iowa Community College officials tell us they received a $20,000 grant from the Lyon County Riverboat Foundation and matched it with $20,000 in Title III Strengthening Institutions grant funds from the U.S. Department of Education and a $22,494 cash match from the college to purchase two Nursing Anne medium-fidelity nursing simulators.
NCC officials tell us that the simulators were purchased in September and are used by students for hands-on skill practice and clinical simulation in the nursing programs by students in the licensed practical nursing programs and the associate degree nursing programs. Simulation concentrates learning experiences, which is important when patient volumes in facilities may be lower because of the area’s rural nature, according to Kim Karhoff, Director of Nursing Programs at NCC.
She says that simulation is becoming more and more standard because of the varied scenarios and patient types instructors can present to students and after it all, they sit down and they debrief their own skills of what went well and what could have gone better.
Instructors tell us that during simulation, students are able to communicate with the patient, provide care and make decisions that can help the patient improve, or make them worse. Karhoff says simulation is a safe place to make mistakes. She says, “This is where we start to turn the theories we have learned in the classroom into practical skills.”
NCC officials tell us NCC is committed to graduating competent, safe health care workers. They say the expansion of simulation opportunities in the nursing programs is one way to achieve that.
They also say that once construction on the $9 million expansion/remodel of the healthcare building is completed there will be separate skill labs for each healthcare program offered at NCC and a hospital setting for simulation which will include delivery/postpartum rooms, medical/surgical rooms and a large area which can serve as an emergency or operating room.
