Donor Honor Roll - California State University, Dominguez Hills

A skillful Addition (Continued
students from the master’s
entry Level professional nurse
program demonstrate new
equipment in the clinical skills
lab at Csu Dominguez Hills.
from page 11)
classroom spaces on the lower level
of the Social and Behavioral Sciences
building into the 4,000-square-foot
nursing skills lab. Features of the
space include a reception area, a
32-seat “smart” classroom with
laptop computers at every seat and
computerized whiteboards, a small
simulation lab with high-tech human
patient simulators known as METI
men that were purchased through
then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s
California Nurse Education Initiative,
as well as the hospital skills lab itself.
The warm yellow walls and
pastel polka dotted privacy curtains
separating the beds in the skills
lab belie the typical white-washed,
sterile hospital room. But filled with
student nurses practicing everything
from changing beds to giving shots,
running IVs and checking blood
pressure, the space begins to take on
the sights and sounds of a working
medical center.
The simulation lab is adjacent
and includes two beds where the two
METI men lay. These computerized
mannequins can be programmed for
any medical scenario and will present
lifelike symptoms and responses
accordingly to nursing students’ care.
They are an added clinical skills educational
tool for the students and one
School of Nursing acting director
Rose Welch believes will prove very
useful to the nursing students.
“It’s very dynamic and interactive,
and a lot of literature supports
that it really makes a difference in
promoting safety and quality of
patient care,” Welch said. “The whole
point of it is to give students the opportunity
to learn the art and skill of
nursing in a safe environment before
going into the real world, which also
is the reason this entire skills lab for
the School of Nursing is so critical.”
Enhancing the student experience
even further is the addition of
cameras mounted above each bed in
the labs, as well as television moni-
tors throughout. As the students are
practicing their skills, their instructors
can choose to record them and
view the footage, either at their stations
or back in the computer lab, in
The 4,000-square-foot,
hospital-like nursing skills
lab was created out of four
classroom spaces on the
lower level of the social and
Behavioral sciences building.
order to analyze the students’ actions
more thoroughly.
“Students look at how they perform
and what they did right, what
they did wrong, what they could have
done differently,” Welch said. “Sometimes
the most valuable part of the
experience is the debriefing of it.”
sOs Campaign
Walking into the lab’s main entrance,
individuals enter a reception area
and are immediately drawn to a dark
purple wall. Though currently blank,
it will soon display the names of all
the people who donated money or
equipment to make the skills lab possible.
Money from the CSU Chancellor’s
Office fund only covered
construction. The school had some
equipment in their rudimentary lab
space, but not enough to stock this
much larger space.
Lacking funds to purchase the
necessary equipment and supplies,
from gauze to hospital beds, the school
launched a Stock Our Skills Lab
(SOS) campaign. More than $130,000
has been raised to-date, including
major donations from Catalina businessman
Ken Putnam, who chairs
the CSU Dominguez Hills Foundation
Board of Directors; Associated
Students Inc.; and Providence Little
Company of Mary Healthcare Foundation,
which provided the beds. The
SOS campaign will continue, according
to Welch, who said the ongoing
costs to keep the lab stocked are
not covered in the school’s overall
budget. In addition, the lab will be
available for naming rights.
“We really do need a lot more
donations and to go in for grants,
because ongoing maintenance and
ongoing stocking is absolutely es-
sential,” Welch said. “We’ve got this
beautiful facility but it doesn’t help if
it’s not utilized to its fullest.”
At the ribbon cutting for the lab,
MEPN student Jose Nava, a recipient
of the Kaiser Permanente Dolores
Jones Nursing Scholarship, summed
up what the lab means to him and his
classmates.
“You are giving hope not only
to us but to future generations of
nurses that are going to come after
us,” he said to the assembled supporters
of the lab. “I hope that this
nursing skills lab... will give us more
time to practice and hone our skills.
As good nurses, it’s not only that we
have it here in our minds and in our
hearts. We also have to have it in our
hands.” n
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