High-tech simulation lab prepares future nurses

Marquette University
Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare Center for Clinical Simulation

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Marquette University partnered with Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare Center to bring a new clinical simulation lab to the school's College of Nursing. The new lab was designed to be at the technological forefront of nursing education, providing an environment that is as realistic as possible to the clinical environments that students will ultimately work in after graduation. Kahler Slater provided complete programming, planning and architectural services for this important renovation to the College of Nursing's building.

The Center for Clinical Simulation includes a simulated hospital with intensive care rooms, medical surgical rooms, a pediatric/neonatal intensive care unit and a labor and delivery suite. It also features provider offices, a home health/long-term care apartment, skills labs with various levels of technology and debrief rooms where educators can review video recordings of simulation exercises with the students. From its computerized patient mannequins to observation and debrief capabilities, the lab employs the latest technology. Equally important to the learning environment are the debrief rooms, where instructors and student teams can critique simulations. The debrief rooms allow the college to get maximum use of the simulation rooms and are designed as intimate spaces, helping instructors provide immediate feedback and facilitating engaged learning. The design takes cues from Marquette University's campus, while not hesitating to step outside those boundaries to create a realistic health care environment.

The Center for Clinical Simulation is at the technological forefront of nursing education and mimics practical clinical environment that the school’s students will ultimately work in after graduation.
“We believe the Center for Clinical Simulation creates a national standard that can be replicated in communities across the nation to address critical health care issues of nursing shortages and patient safety, both from an educational and practical perspective.”

Former Dean Dr. Margaret Faut Callahan