Since opening in 2011, the University’s Nursing Simulation Laboratory (NSL) has ensured all Mennonite College of Nursing (MCN) students learn fundamental clinical skills in a realistic environment.
A typical student works in the NSL several days per week at the start of the nursing curriculum, and at least eight hours per clinical course in each subsequent semester. The NSL is essential for nursing education, as it helps address dwindling clinical site experiences. It also creates an increased focus on safety and quality outcomes in health care. The NSL allows for additional clinical experience for students and is embedded into MCN’s curriculum.
In this space just north of the Bone Student Center, students deal with scenarios that range from common and low risk to infrequent with high risk. They learn skills such as how to place an IV by using manufactured body parts that show a flash of simulated blood when a vein is hit. One day students may experience chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the next encounter a postpartum hemorrhage. In this space, anything can happen.
