College of Nursing

Nursing Learning Center (NLC) - Purpose and resources

The Nursing Learning Center (NLC) is administered by the College of Nursing to provide a quiet study area, one group study room, a circulation desk and reserve reference area for access to non-print media, reserve print reference material, closed circuit TV, and other electronic resources to support the various courses taught within the college. Access to the NLC is restricted to graduate and undergraduate nursing students. No food or drink is to be brought into the NLC.

The NLC also provides computer access to nursing instructional programs, e-mail, library on-line catalog and references, databases, and web-based resources.

The nursing labs are a part of the NLC. Instruction in the labs is designed to bring clinical reality into the educational setting by the use of hospital patient units, mannequins, supplies, and equipment. A nurses’ station and medication preparation area in the Basic Nursing Lab further simulate the hospital setting. The Advanced Nursing Lab simulates a critical care unit and medical surgical nursing unit. There are also learning areas for Pediatrics and Maternal/Newborn patient care.

The NLC is the home to two sophisticated, high-fidelity computer-based human patient simulators which allow students to assess changeable heart sounds, breath sounds, chest movement, experience cardiac monitoring, administer simulated medications, and observe the physiological effect. The adult simulator, SAM (super assimilated man) and the pediatric simulator, Tiny Tim, were both named by the students. Both simulators are computer-driven and use compressed air to simulate breathing. SAM uses 3 different gases to simulate physiological changes. Both simulators can function using different patient profiles (and different underlying physiological settings) and health care scenarios. The computer-based simulators allow the same patient and scenario to be experienced by multiple students or groups of students.

The NLC also houses a maternal and neonatal birthing simulator. This simulator is a full-size female that will allow students to experience the patient care associated with childbirth (before, during, and after delivery). The simulator provides experience with fetal position, fetal heart sounds, and performing Leopold maneuvers.

Students attend learning sessions taught by staff nurses and/or senior nursing students as teaching assistants, learn and practice nursing techniques, and perform “pass-off’s” before caring for patients in the clinical setting.