The Wilson School of Nursing received a $115,317 grant from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board under the Nursing Innovation Grant Program “Building Lab and Simulation Capacity” to the develop the simulation center to maximize on the capacity and use of the simulation center for the nursing pre-licensure program.

Kathleen Williamson, chair of the Wilson School of Nursing said, “We plan on using it to help us create more of a multi-purpose room within the simulation center to be able be used for a multitude of different simulation and learning activities for students”

One of the goals for the grant is to get equipment for medication administration and purchase computers on wheels to be able to chart medications.

“We can use a lot of the equipment to simulate more opportunities for students to engage in all the activities that the nurses would at the hospital,” Williamson said.

Students will use the equipment during classroom hours and also practice hours that are expanding from the current 40 hours a week to 50 hours a week, giving students more chances to get the same hands-on experience that students would receive in a hospital setting.

“The idea is to increase more time in the simulation center. For example, there are some programs here like mental health and community that we do not do any simulation with,” Williamson said. “The idea is to bring more of those type of scenarios to the simulation center and have the students go through them so they are not cold walking into a home to care for someone.”

Faculty members submitted the grant proposal, CONNECTS: Capacity Optimized Neural Network Extending Clinical Theory, and Skills, last October to gain a grant to update the J.S. Bridwell Regional Simulation Center, a 13,000 square-foot facility that has been transformed from an old out-patient surgical hospital to house classrooms, meeting rooms, offices and a bay area for students to utilize.