Marcia Porter

"In this time of fiscal challenges in Newfoundland and Labrador, donations from our alumni make a difference for student learning."

That's a quote from School of Nursing Dean, Dr. Alice Gaudine, commenting on how alumni contributions help the school offer students many opportunities for practical hands-on learning experiences.

"A strength of our programs is the time spent in practicing skills and simulation experiences with high-fidelity mannequins and with simulated patients." Dr. Alice Gaudine

"A strength of our programs is the time spent in practicing skills and simulation experiences with high-fidelity mannequins and with simulated patients," she said.

Sneak a peek into the Learning Resource Centre (LRC) and you'll often see students working on the skills they're learning – performing health assessments, practicing blood procurement, changing sterile dressings, assessing a cast, inserting an intravenous line - just to name a few.

"Whatever you see in nursing practice we incorporate into the lab so that students are better prepared for their clinical courses," said Marie Strang, an LRC instructor and registered nurse (RN) who's also a MUNSON graduate. "Keeping the lab up-to-date is really important to us, right down to the patient paperwork."

The LRC and Cahill Nursing Simulation Room are set up to simulate a realistic hospital and community setting, introducing students to the everyday world of the nurse.

Students begin with skills such as taking blood pressures and pulses, and providing safe patient care, a concept reinforced throughout their entire program, and progress to more complex skills and simulations where they integrate material used in different courses and make complex assessments and clinical decisions.

"The learning resource centre provides a safe and most importantly guided environment to learn the clinical skills of becoming a registered nurse." Stephanie Roberts

"The LRC is the first place where I learned to introduce myself properly to a patient. It is also the place where I first learned bedside manner," said Stephanie Roberts, a student entering the fourth year of her bachelor of nursing program this September. "The learning resource centre provides a safe and most importantly guided environment to learn the clinical skills of becoming a registered nurse."

And that means equipment and resources must be current and kept in good working condition.

Once fall semester starts up, and particularly into the busy winter semester, about 80 students per day, Monday-Friday inclusive, will take labs in the LRC.

"We try to simulate the clinical experience as much as we can so that students have more of a realistic expectation when they go to the clinical setting." Nicosia Brake

"We try to simulate the clinical experience as much as we can so that students have more of a realistic expectation when they go to the clinical setting," said Nicosia Brake, an LRC instructor and RN who graduated from the Centre for Nursing Studies (CNS). "Students really enjoy the hands-on experiences. That's when they feel like they're learning about how to be a real nurse."

These positive and realistic learning experiences are thanks to their instructors and also to donations received every year from School of Nursing alumni.

With recent alumni contributions, Ms. Strang and Ms. Brake were able to do some shopping for the LRC, adding new supplies and equipment such as an automated blood pressure cuff.

"It's not always possible for students to be exposed to all the different situations that can occur, for example, during labor and delivery, and purchasing this equipment helps give students experience in a variety of situations," said Ms. Strang.

Other new equipment purchases include:

• Simulated blood
• Bedside monitors
• Diagnostic wall system
• Care assist bed
• Bedside tables
• Another multi-media screen that can stream to the classrooms
• Replacement parts for LRC mannequins
• Storage containers to help maintain equipment

"The LRC is amazing," said Ms. Strang, "We have nurse practitioner students come and use the lab, and they're very impressed."

She points out that the new multi-media screen allows steaming to the classrooms, and also gives students a big screen for watching videos of nurses providing care, to help reinforce skills and concepts.

Students would love to have another adult-sized high-fidelity mannequin to the LRC.

"Learning time-management is important for nursing students and dealing with multiple simulators adds a different level of intensity for students, one that is very real," said Ms. Brake.

"The LRC's worth is truly illuminated when you begin practicing nursing on a floor," said Ms. Roberts, "You're so grateful you had the opportunity to first practice the skill in the most life-like environment possible."