Construction is complete on the $3 million, 25,000 square-feet Ruehlow Nursing Complex, home to the School of Nursing. The facility, which houses nursing classrooms, labs and faculty offices is located on the first floor of the Student Life and Campus Center. Your desire to help others will be energized by intensive training in our sophisticated new labs, enabling you to integrate the use of technology with caring. The new space is nearly quadruple the size of the previous nursing labs, and will allow faculty to enhance the already innovative education experience that is the hallmark of an MSOE education. The new nursing experiential learning and simulation center includes:
Simulation Labs
The Ruehlow Nursing Complex features four simulated hospital rooms that are connected by a central nurses station, similar to a hospital intensive care unit. The rooms feature call lights for the patients, who are high fidelity manikins. The life-like manikins are driven by computer software that enables them to breathe, cough, talk or change conditions based on what nursing professors have programmed. Simulations provide students with opportunities to communicate with patients, respond to patient needs, and witness the consequences of their decision-making and clinical reasoning in a hospital-like setting.
A unique feature of the Ruehlow Nursing Complex is the direct linkage of two classrooms with two simulation rooms. Students learn theoretical concepts in class and can immediately turn to the back of the classroom where the opened wall allows them to apply what they have just learned to the care of a patient in the simulated hospital.
The four simulation rooms and their patients are:
"Being part of the planning process of the new School of Nursing labs has been an amazing and unique experience for me. I’ve been involved in everything from figuring out the best layout of the entire department and picking out color schemes to selecting furniture for the different areas."
- Megan Syversen
- CC-131 SimJunior® Manikin
Students learn to provide nursing care for a pediatric patient in an acute care environment. This patient might have acute or chronic health conditions. - CC-132 SimMom™ Manikin
Students learn to provide nursing care for a woman with maternal health needs. This mother may be in labor or delivering her baby. - CC-133 SimMan® Classic Manikin
Students learn to provide nursing care for adults with acute and chronic conditions. - CC-134 SimMan® Essential Manikin
This patient has an acute illness, and also can be transported into the classroom for the purposes of teaching and learning.
Health Assessment Labs
In two state-of-the-art laboratories, students learn health assessment skills and about active integration of pharmacology with medication administration. These skills prepare sophomores for their first clinical experience with real patients.
Home Care Lab
The home care lab is set up like a handicap accessible studio apartment. It includes a kitchen area, table and chairs, living room furniture, a large screen TV, washer, dryer, and spacious bathroom with shower. Students take turns playing the role of the patient and teaching one another how to maneuver within the home with an illness. Students also learn how to use adaptive devices such as wheelchairs, walkers and assistive devices within the home, and receive a simulation of what their patients experience.Student Area
The student area offers the opportunity to engage in collaborative learning as well as an environment in which to socialize and relax. In addition to comfortable furniture, there is a Mondopad, which is a touch screen TV that allows for student computer use as a display screen for group work. The student area also has a refrigerator, microwave and cabinets for storage of materials by the nursing student organizations.The center is not limited to just nursing students. Biomedical engineering, mechanical engineering and industrial engineering students access the home care lab to test medical equipment and evaluate its technological fit and function in a patient’s home. Graduate students in MSOE’s perfusion program also access the simulation suite replicated as a hospital operating room.