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Nursing school gets new image, focuses on service

By Aurelie Gaborit de Montjou
Staff Writer

The nursing program of Shorter University has made some major facility improvements over the summer of 2014 moving from its previous campus location on Riverbend Mall to Thornwood campus on Shorter Ave.The improvements made on the new location include the most “lifelike,

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” high-fidelity simulators the program has had thus far, as well as access to a student kitchen for the first time. This allows students to have their lunch break on campus.

The most important change that the students are able to experience is the “simulation lab,” which includes four high-fidelity simulators. The simulators – a mom, an average male, a pediatric patient and an infant – each have a private room and are able to mock some of the most common daily functions of a human being. These functions include talking, breathing, urinating, bleeding, defecating, blinking, giving birth and having a heart attack. Additionally, each of the simulator rooms includes a double-mirrored glass panel, which allows professors to observe the students perform in the room. From behind the glass the professors are invisible to the students, but they are still able to communicate with the students and can control the simulators at a distance.

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Moreover, each high-fidelity simulator room can contain four students at once, plus four students in each of the three low simulator rooms, for a total of 28 students able to practice skills at the same time. Students are also able to practice their assessment skills in the four different rooms.

Ashley Lee, senior nursing students the president and of the Shorter Student Nursing Association expanded on the changes nursing students are experiencing this year.

Lee said “all of a sudden, we have to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation,” but adds that “we’re fortunate to be able to practice skills with the high-fidelity simulators. It makes us more confident for when we go into the hospital setting.”

 

As for the more traditional academic aspects of the program, the new nursing school’s lecture hall has the capacity of seating 100 students, is equipped with three smart computer screens, and has microphones for teachers. Access to a computer is also now easier since the program has acquired a new computer lab with a computer for almost every student.

One of things the 86 nursing students are most thrilled about is their new personal space, aka their own student kitchen and student lounge. Adrian Lolchoki, nursing student and public relations director of the SSNA says “our new student kitchen is phenomenal, we never even had anywhere to eat before.”

The old campus did not provide a kitchen for their students who had to leave campus on their lunch break, which shortened their time to study. However, the Thornwood campus is now equipped with a refrigerator, microwave, vending machines, cabin space, sinks and bathrooms.

The students also have access to their own lounge this year, which includes two huge rooms and two bathrooms, a space where students can study or hang out.

Morgan Lee, another senior nursing student, said that in addition to the simulation lab giving her a better opportunity to practice skills and real life situations, the amount of space the new campus has acquired is the biggest improvement. “We are no longer crammed into a small space. The new student lounge is now much more accessible and provides a wonderful space for us to study and hang out,” she said.

Furthermore, the new campus has allowed the nursing administration and teachers to have their offices on Thornwood campus, makes them more easily accessible to students.

Nursing School Haiti

To ensure the safety of the campus, the facilities have also been equipped with a secured gate and students and faculty as safe as possible.

With all these new advantages, the nursing students and faculty appear determined to kick off the year in a Christ-like manner. Specifically, the Shorter Nursing Program has decided to help the population affected with the Ebola virus in West Africa. The Ebola virus can be contracted through contact with another person; therefore the lack of medical gloves creates an inability for anyone to help the infected population.

On Sept. 12, the program conducted its very first glove drive called Safe Hands for Africa. The first glove drive generated a total of 99,030 pairs of medical gloves donated, and $1170.70 raised. The decision to focus on gloves, moreover, came after their trip to Haiti this summer, as the nursing students were faced with the reality of basic supply deficiencies around the world.

Lolchoki illustrated the situation by comparing medical gloves to gems, saying that “because there was such an important lack of basic supplies, we were holding gloves like a precious piece of diamond. We learned to use our resources as if they will not be available the next day,” he says.

To Lolchoki, the purpose of the glove drive is simple: “Our mission is to help somebody live another day, this is for a bigger purpose than ourselves.”