Healthbeat 4: Mount Marty College officially opens nursing simulation center

YANKTON, SD (KTIV) —  Mount Marty College in Yankton, South Dakota, has officially opened its new Avera nursing and Simulation Center.

It’s a project that’s been in the works for more than a year.

The new $1.7 million facility features a state-of-the-art nursing simulation lab, for in-depth, hands-on training in a variety of health care situations.

Welcome to the new state-of-the-art nursing simulation lab at Mount Marty College — equipt with high-fidelity simulators.

“So that we can program them to react to students interventions both positive and negative,” said Julie Fuelberth, instructor of nursing at Mount Marty College.

Julie Fuelberth is an instructor of nursing at Mount Marty. She says it’s a powerful learning tool for the students.

“We can set these simulations up, give them some information about their patient and sit back in a control room away — so they’re not just reacting from their instructor being in the room they’re reacting to a simulated patient,” said Fuelberth.

The simulators are able to talk to the students, respond to their questions as well as the medication administered to them.

“The lessons that they learned probably you learn by your mistake,” said Fuelberth, “And when you see something that you have done that didn’t have a positive outcome, that is so important for the students and they understand how important their learning is in their careers and in the lives of the patients they’ll be taking care of.”

Fuelberth says they’re able to mimic high-fidelity scenarios with the simulators that you can’t control in a clinical environment.

“We can also make sure that all of our students are exposed to the same situations whether the reactions won’t be the same but we know that in some of these high-risk situations that they’ve all been exposed to that because you can’t control those kinds of situations in a clinical environment.”

Instructors say they hope the simulators last for the next ten to 20 years.

Also, practicing healthcare professionals from the Avera Sacred Heart Region will use is for in-service training as well as Yankton-area first responders.

Watch the video version on the KTIV website.