Rep. Weller to present $150,000 to USF nursing program
Congressman
Jerry Weller will present a $150,000 check to
the University of St. Francis on Wednesday, Dec.
10. The funds will be used to create a virtual
reality nursing skills laboratory. Weller will
be at the university’s College of Nursing
and Allied Health, 290 N. Springfield Ave., at
9 a.m. when he will meet with nursing faculty
and students.
Nursing
students and faculty began working with the congressman
last fall to gain federal grant funding to purchase
state-of-the-art equipment for the nursing skills
learning lab, according to Maria Connolly, dean,
College of Nursing and Allied Health.
"There
are more than 500 nursing schools in the United
States and the majority are smaller, teaching
intensive institutions that often struggle to
maintain an adequate learning environment,"
said Connolly. Research shows that nursing skills
laboratories with interactive technology, simulations
and virtual reality models are a necessity for
students to learn how to care for patients, Connolly
added.
"Our
patients deserve and have come to expect that
a beginning nurse professional be a knowledgeable
and skilled nurse," said Connolly. "A
state-of-the-art nursing skills lab will enable
undergraduate nursing students to practice in
a non-threatening environment before they begin
to try their skills on real patients in acute
care settings," she said.
The
lab will also be used by graduate nursing students
to make sophisticated physical assessment simulations,
added Connolly. These graduate students will become
mid-level health care providers able to diagnose,
prescribe and treat people from "cradle to
grave" as advance practice nurse specialists
and nurse practitioners.
The
university will use the funding for a virtual
reality SimMan lifelike human mannequin, an intravenous
computer simulator, a childbirth station-pediatric
simulation set-up, an electrocardiograph machine,
animated physiology software and computers.
The
nation is in the midst of a nursing shortage,
and by 2020, it is expected that the demand for
registered nurses will grow to double that of
the expected R.N. workforce, according to U.S.
Bureau of Labor statistics. Nurse executives in
the nation’s hospitals report a desire for
the majority of staff nurses to be prepared at
the bachelor’s degree level, added Connolly.
The
University of St. Francis offers the bachelor
of science in nursing for both traditional and
transfer students, an online B.S.N. Fast Track
program for R.N.s with a diploma or A.D.N. as
well as allied health programs in medical technology,
nuclear medicine technology, radiation therapy
and radiography. The master’s degree in nursing
is offered with two tracks of study: nurse practitioner
and clinical nurse specialist. In addition the
College of Nursing and Allied Health offers master’s
degree programs in physician assistant studies
and family nurse practitioners in Albuquerque,
N.M.
The University of St. Francis serves more than 4,300 students nationwide, including 1,800 at its Joliet campus.