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Center Getting $1M in Medical Gear

Posted on: Wednesday, 3 May 2006, 21:00 CDT

By John P. McDermott, The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.

May 3--The owner of a North Charleston hospital bed manufacturer is rolling out $1 million worth of goods to help furnish a new training laboratory for nursing students and staffers at the Medical University of South Carolina.

The in-kind donation by Hill-Rom Inc., a division of Batesville, Ind.-based Hillenbrand Industries Inc., includes specialty beds and other equipment for the proposed $3 million center, which is being designed to function like a real medical clinic.

The 11,000-square-foot training center is expected to open next spring.

MUSC already has secured from the state half the money it needs for the project. The rest is being raised through private sources, said Gail Stuart, dean of the school's College of Nursing.

"Hill-Rom has really taken a leadership position in that," she said Tuesday.

Stuart said the center eventually could help MUSC ease the local nursing shortage by making it easier to train more students in a realistic setting. "It not only relieves the hospital of an enormous training burden, but I also believe the competency levels of our students will be much stronger and greater," she said.

The lab will use computerized mannequins to teach students from MUSC's College of Nursing, College of Health Professions and College of Medicine a range of procedures, from starting an intravenous line to more complex tasks.

"At a time when patient safety and nursing turnover are both major concerns in the health-care profession,we believe this effort has the potential to have a tremendous impact on both," said Peter Soderberg, Hill-Rom's president and chief executive.

Stuart said the new facility also would be available for continuing education courses for MUSC nurses and emergency preparedness training for "first responders" such as the Red Cross, fire departments and police departments. "This could be an incredible resource to the community," she said.

The simulation learning center will be modular, so instructors will be able to reconfigure the layout quickly into an emergency room or a delivery labor room, depending on the lesson plan. "It's like a movie set," Stuart said.

As for Hill-Rom, she said, the company hopes to glean feedback from the up-and-coming nurses about ways to improve its hospital beds, which are manufactured at its North Charleston plant.

"Oftentimes, students have a different perspective," Stuart said. "They come at it with a fresh approach."

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.

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Source: The Post and Courier

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