Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending - Construction - Address: 158 Harmon Drive, Northfield, VT 05663 Project Director: Jessica Wood DNP, WHNP-BC, RNC-OB Contact Phone: 802-485-2600 Email: jwood3@norwich.edu Grant Program Funds requested in this application: Equipment, Supplies A key requirement for successful nursing education is when nursing theory is combined with practical skills. However, nursing students often encounter difficulties in the practical implementation of theoretical knowledge, which hinders their learning process. Furthermore, the treatments that patients receive, including technology, medical record keeping, and healthcare overall have grown increasingly complex. A teaching approach that bridges the gap between practical skills, theory coursework, and clinical rotations is simulation. Simulation (SIM) laboratories provide immersive and hands-on learning experiences for nursing and healthcare students. They are built to mimic various healthcare settings such as emergency rooms, hospital rooms, labor and delivery rooms, and operating theaters to fully immerse students in the clinical experience. In addition to the realistic environment, these labs are furnished with manikins and medical equipment that help nursing students and educators. Norwich University’s current laboratory space is outdated, inadequate in size, and insufficient in equipment and material resources. The objective of this application is to use the requested funds to equip the simulation lab with moveable equipment to enable a state-of-the art learning facility in which nursing education can better serve a larger and growing student population. Norwich University is the oldest private military college in the U.S., located in Northfield, in a rural area of central Vermont. Nursing has been a program at Norwich since the mid-nineties when it was consolidated from Vermont College in Montpelier to the main campus of the University. The School of Nursing is one of the five professional schools in the College of Professional Schools and nursing is the third largest major on campus. Norwich offers a Bachelor of Science degree program in Nursing, both traditional and accelerated tracks. Norwich also has an online MSN program that includes the much-needed nurse educator, nurse leader, and three Nurse Practitioner tracks. There are currently 187 students in the School of Nursing on campus (159 traditional and 28 accelerated track students) and 177 students online in our Master of Science in Nursing programs. Simulation is a key feature of the high-impact instructional model of the Norwich’s Nursing program. It provides students with a safe way to interact with prospective patients to better understand the combined impacts of treatments and sensitivities, family member interactions, and physical and emotional reactions before they are confronted with these scenarios in a clinical setting. This model of learning is one of the reasons why our nursing students can function quickly at such a high level when they reach our regional hospitals for their clinical rotations. Nursing is one of the fastest-growing majors in the University and the integration of new Virtual Reality-assisted simulation tools will help Norwich University meet the overflow of current and future enrollment as well as serve as a recruiting tool for future nurses. As an emerging technology in the field, the requested funds would permit significantly expanded student access, well beyond what we could accomplish using traditional manikins alone, therefore attracting and retaining nursing students during their academic careers, keeping them in the State of Vermont, and building the Vermont workforce. The project will also have a high school outreach component through the development of a summer pre-college program in health professions, strengthening the student pipeline into institutions of higher education and the medical field.
