WGU opens new nursing simulation center in Indy
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The Western Governors University Michael O. Leavitt School of Health has opened its new Clinical Learning and Simulation Center in Indianapolis.
The university says the nearly $5 million facility is expected to train and educate more than 1,000 new registered nurses in the region by 2028.
The 16,000-square-foot center includes five simulation rooms and two skills labs with 17 patient beds, four patient exam rooms, five debriefing rooms, and a multipurpose room for training and teaching.
The facility will serve WGU nursing and health sciences students from Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia, the university said in a news release.
“We’re opening the Indiana simulation center to address the regional workforce shortage and support the development of a steady stream of compassionate and competent professionals ready to join the community workforce,” said Anmy Mayfield, dean of the WGU College of Nursing. “Our high-quality health and nursing programs…along with this in-person experiential learning facility encourage the development of a patient-centric approach to ultimately yield high patient-outcomes in the region.”
WGU said the simulation center is a strategic investment to bring face-to-face faculty instruction and clinical training to students in the heart of the Midwest.
The university cites the Indiana Hospital Association, which says Indiana needs an additional 5,000 nurses by 2031. To meet that demand, the state would need to graduate 1,300 additional nurses per year by 2030.
“This investment in education and innovation will directly strengthen our state’s nursing pipeline, improving healthcare for all Hoosiers,” Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education Chris Lowery said in the release.
We’ll have more on the new simulation center on this weekend’s edition of Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick.