Shorter Shows Off Nursing School; Students To Learn With Simulators
Shorter College hosted an open house at its new School of Nursing on Tuesday so that potential students and college officials could get a first-hand look at the new facility.
Located at 20 Riverbend Drive in the Coosa Medical Group building, the college, though not yet totally complete, includes two large classrooms, two large labs, and several patient screening rooms.
What Shorter nursing officials are particularly excited about, however, are their human simulators that students will be practicing their skills on.
The computer-driven, human-sized dolls work much in the same way a real patient would. They experience various illness and respond to your actions — even if those actions are the wrong ones.
“So if you give it four shots of Demerol, it’s going to code,” said Pam Dunagan, assistant professor of nursing.
Take Noel Gaumard, for example.
Noel is a birthing simulator made by a company called Gaumard, and with her help nursing students at Shorter will experience a birthing mother and newborn baby, including the problems that can occur. Dunagan said that’s important because most nursing students experience the birthing process with a real person — and nothing goes wrong.
But with poor Noel, everything can, and does, go wrong.
“That’s when the learning comes together. When you can put all that together,” said Dunagan.
Shorter’s school of nursing is set to have its first classes next fall with somewhere between 25 and 30 students entering the inaugural class. The college will offer a Bachelor of Science in nursing.
“The grand opening marks a milestone in the progress of bringing a Baccalaureate Nursing Program to Northwest Georgia,” said School of Nursing Dean Vanice Roberts.
Currently, there are no other pre-licensure baccalaureate programs in this area.
“A strong component of the School of Nursing will be a Christian health care mission outreach to both the local communities and international population through a study abroad program planned in the curriculum,” said Roberts. “The educational experience of Shorter College School of Nursing graduates will prepare them to provide excellence in service, leadership and patient care, and exemplify the core Christian values of Shorter College.”
Assistant Professor Pam Dunagan (right) gives a tour in one of the college's labs.
