Christine DiRie, an assistant teaching professor in the College of Nursing, talks to Nancy and Donald Ross about the maternal and newborn nursing simulation inside the Donald and Nancy Ross simulation and debriefing room in the newly renovated and expanded Nursing Learning Resource and Simulation Center. (Photo by Derik Holtmann)

With the opening of the newly renovated and expanded Nursing Learning Resource and Simulation Center, graduates from the College of Nursing at the University of Missouri–St. Louis will be even better prepared to serve patients and help address a critical nursing shortage in the region.

The $7 million, 21,000-square-foot immersive learning center offers state-of-the-art space, equipment and technology for the College of Nursing to train the next generation of nurses. The new facility, which kicked off construction in November 2020, has increased the number of simulation rooms from five to 11, allowing the college to grow the number of pre-licensure BSN students it graduates by 20% annually.

In the simulation rooms, students have the ability to practice skills such as catheterization, IV insertion and defibrillation on life-like, high-fidelity mannequins that can simulate blinking, breathing, speaking and even giving birth. The Nursing Learning Resource and Simulation Center also includes separate control rooms where instructors run the simulations and record students’ actions to critique after the fact, as well as several study rooms and debriefing rooms.

Chancellor Kristin Sobolik introduces Norma Hall-Thoms, the new dean of the College of Nursing, at a tour of the Nursing Learning Resource and Simulation Center on Oct. 9, 2024. (Photo by Derik Holtmann)

At a grand opening celebration on Wednesday, College of Nursing faculty, staff, alumni, students and members of the UMSL community gathered in the Seton Center Hall lobby for tours of the state-of-the-art facilities and a welcome address from Chancellor Kristin Sobolik. Sobolik, who serves on the board at Christian Hospital, highlighted the need for more nurses in the field and the role that the Nursing Learning Resource and Simulation Center plays in meeting workforce needs in the region.

Sobolik also recognized the investments from the state of Missouri and private donor support that made the project possible. In his FY22 state operating budget bills, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson directed $1.5 million to the UMSL College of Nursing to assist with the first phase of the project through the MoExcels Workforce Initiative. The Nursing Learning Resource and Simulation Center also received $3 million from the federal government, which helped the project move into its second and third phases.

Several UMSL donors also gave over $100,000 to move the project forward, including the Centene Charitable Foundation, Enterprise Holdings Foundation, College of Nursing Leadership Council, The Hearst Foundations, Jefferson Foundation, UMSL Chancellor’s Council and UMSL faculty and staff, as well as Terry and Stan Freerks, Don and Nancy Ross and Mary Walker. Sobolik also recognized donors including Mercy Hospital St. Louis, BJC HealthCare, Kirk and Maureen Richter, Carol and Terry Elmendorf, Retired Judge Brenda Stith Loftin and J.W. Loftin and Debra Lueckerath.

“We are so pleased that we are here now at the end of this College of Nursing simulation lab renovation, and the labs are being used by our students, by our faculty, by our staff,” Sobolik said. “They are so needed.”

Sobolik also introduced College of Nursing Dean Norma Hall-Thoms, who joined the college on July 1. Hall-Thoms spoke about her passion for community-focused health care and the role that simulation can play in giving students a safe space to practice new skills, build confidence, problem-solve and work as a team.

Laurie Vining, an assistant teaching professor in the College or Nursing, gives children of an UMSL nursing alum an opportunity to listen to the heart and breathing of a simulator. (Photo by Derik Holtmann)

“Students really have an opportunity to take time to think through a particular clinical issue that we present to them within the simulation setting,” Hall-Thoms said. “In the health care setting, you oftentimes don’t have 10, 15 minutes to make up your mind on what you want to do. And so when you have a safe space in the simulation center, you really can learn, ‘Hey, if I make a mistake, that’s OK. I want to learn what I did wrong, what I can do right the next time, and then I will know going forward that this is how I need to approach this particular clinical situation.’”

Layla Brooks, a junior in the BSN program who helped lead tours of the facility, said the SIM lab has given her the ability to practice the skills she’s learning about in the classroom in a realistic setting, which has given her more confidence as she progresses through the program.

“It’s stuff that I’ve already seen in class, like how to put the IV bag in there and how to start it, drawing blood, taking vital signs and actually getting experience with the mannequins and how to talk to them, how to assess them, before you actually go to a real life person and don’t know what you’re doing,” she said. “I didn’t think I was going to be as fast, but now I can go to the hospital and be, like, ‘Yeah, I could do your vital signs.’ ‘I can check your blood sugar.’ I think it adds confidence, because if I didn’t have this experience, I probably would not volunteer to do any of this stuff in clinicals. It’s nice that you get experience with those critical groups.”