Clark $300k Grant Sets Up

‘Hospital Suite’ At Hartwick

ONEONTA – Hartwick College has received a $300,000 grant from The Clark Foundation to help fund a new Hospital Suite Simulation Unit for the college’s Nursing Department. The new equipment will be located in repurposed space in Smith Hall.

The grant will enable the college to better prepare its nursing students to enter the field, and grow the department by another 10 students. This is the fourth such award from the foundation since 2011.

“The new, state-of-the-art unit will allow us to provide students with innovative learning opportunities central to success, and, at the same time, support collaborative initiatives across disciplines within the college, as well as with our external clinical partners,” said Patricia Grust, department chair.

The funding will replicate a hospital unit, complete with four single-bed rooms, an eight-bed room, a nursing station complete with medicines, bandages and PPE as well as technical equipment, including patient-care simulation manikins, computers, cardiac monitors, and instrumentation and supplies. The space will allow students to learn advanced nursing and problem-solving skills.

Students will rotate into this section from their clinical learning environment at regional healthcare facilities. Simulation learning, which will occur in this suite, will supplement hospital, rehabilitation center, psychiatric unit, and long term care facility clinical training currently available to Hartwick nursing students.

A simulation unit will support student learning by allowing the Department to rotate students into a “hands on” learning experience rather than an “observation only” rotation. With approval from the Office of the Professions at the New York State Education Department, the simulation equipment will be used to augment clinical learning. This initiative will provide nursing students with the most advanced education possible, provide the educational experiences needed for students to succeed, and maximize

enrollment of students to help alleviate the serious shortage of professional nurses in upstate New York.

Smith Hall was chosen as the ideal location for the simulation unit because of its proximity to the Johnstone Science Center and other academic areas. The size and shape of the space is also compatible with space needed for a simulated hospital suite.