MSOE to build $3 million suite of nursing labs
| Published: 07/27/2012 |
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Construction will begin soon on an innovative and experiential learning center for the MSOE School of Nursing. New nursing labs and classrooms are being built on the first floor of the Student Life and Campus Center. The $3 million, 25,000 square-foot facility is expected to be completed this fall, and will be the 
new location for the School of Nursing classrooms, labs and faculty offices. MSOE Regent Kathy Ruehlow, an MSOE graduate through the merger with the Milwaukee County General Hospital School of Nursing, is a major supporter.
The new space is nearly quadruple the size of the existing nursing labs, and will allow faculty to enhance the already innovative education experience that is the hallmark of an MSOE education. Nursing students actively engage in simulation-based learning opportunities in authentic representations of actual healthcare situations. They integrate theoretical learning into practice through experiential learning opportunities that allow for repetition, feedback, evaluation and reflection.
“Students and faculty are extremely excited about this new space,” said Dr. Debra Jenks, School of Nursing department chair. “We educate nurses to care for patients, families and communities in incredibly complex systems. The quality of this space will match what faculty are currently doing in the curriculum.”
The new nursing experiential learning and simulation center will include:
- Four simulation suites connected by a central nurses station, similar to a hospital intensive care unit
- Each simulation suite includes a patient room with computer-controlled mannequins and medical equipment, a control room for nursing faculty, and an area for students to debrief following a simulation.
- Two assessment, or “studio” labs, which can function as labs or classrooms
- Two general labs
- Two traditional classrooms featuring retractable walls that, when open, will connect to simulation rooms.
- One home care lab, which will be set up like a studio apartment. Nursing students will learn how to care for patients in their homes, monitor chronic illnesses at home, use e-health applications, and experience end-of-life and hospice situations.
- Twenty faculty offices
In addition, the center will be cross-disciplinary. Biomedical engineering, mechanical engineering and industrial engineering students will access the home care lab to test medical equipment and evaluate its technological fit and f
unction in a patient’s home. Graduate students in MSOE’s perfusion program will access the simulation suite replicated as a hospital operating room.
With the expansion of the School of Nursing facilities, MSOE will be able to increase enrollment in the nursing program by 20 percent. Since 1995, the MSOE School of Nursing has been educating students who become excellent nurses. The proof is in the 100% placement rate for graduates, and the May 2012 pass rate of 100% on the NCLEX licensing exam. Graduates leave MSOE prepared to tackle some of the most challenging but rewarding positions out there, including emergency, pediatrics and end-of-life.
MSOE is an independent, non-profit university with about 2,500 students. MSOE offers 18 bachelor’s degrees and nine master’s degrees in the engineering, engineering technology, building and infrastructure engineering, health-related engineering, computer, business and nursing fields. The university has a national academic reputation; longstanding ties to business and industry; dedicated professors with real-world experience; and extremely high placement rates and the highest starting salaries of any Wisconsin university according to PayScale Inc. MSOE graduates are well-rounded, technologically experienced and highly productive professionals and leaders.