Alexis Wells
IPE Welcome Center and the Boyne Family Advanced Simulation Center
April 26, 2023
USM unveils its $2.5M nursing simulation lab
Photo / Alexis Wells
The sim lab also includes virtual reality trainers and interactive, talking patient simulators that are designed for immersive training.
The University of Southern Maine on Tuesday unveiled a new $2.5 million training facility and simulation lab for nursing students.
The $2.5 million Boyne Center is expected to help boost nursing enrollment at USM by 20% over the next five years and help combat the state's nursing shortage.
The Boyne Family Advanced Simulation and Interprofessional Education Center is located on two floors of the Science Building in Portland.
The 6,000-square-foot space includes $100,000 animatronic mannequins, replicated hospital rooms and a home setting, an athletic and physical training teaching lab, and a professional health teaching space supporting related health care professions.
Alexis Wells
The simulation lab has four hospital exam rooms.
The sim lab also includes virtual reality trainers and interactive, talking patient simulators that are designed for immersive training. The center's advanced technology will have the capacity for training in telehealth modalities, such as mobile health monitoring.
"This new space will increase the size of classes, clinical space and lab space," said lab manager Gavin Blair. "Students go to clinics at hospitals, and sometimes it is hard to find placement for them. Some nurses don't want to take on a clinical student. This space will allow nurses to be ready to see patients; it is different than just walking into a room."
During the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Michael Nozdrovicky, senior director of academic affairs and workforce development for nursing and allied health at MaineHealth, said "simulation helps new graduates and new nurses to reflect and learn and that has made a difference for nurses."
Alexis Wells
The center has a fully equipped apartment for home visit simulations.
"In health care, preventable medical error continues to be a leading cause of death in the U.S. Simulation training provides the opportunity to learn skills in a safe environment, with no risk for patient harm," said Brenda Petersen, associate dean for the School of Nursing. "At USM, we are engaged in innovative approaches through simulation in our new state-of-the-art, high-fidelity interprofessional training center. This expansion has allowed us to grow our capacity in order to graduate more highly trained nurses to help bridge Maine's nursing gap."
The Boyne family donated $1 million for the project. According to USM, John and Candy Boyne's daughter, Sarah Boyne Marxhausen, graduated from USM's Nurse Practitioner program in 2008 and is currently practicing in Maine.
$1.5 million for the project came from a 2018 workforce bond through the Maine Legislature.
USM enrolls over 700 graduate and undergraduate nursing students and sends more registered nurses than any other Maine institution into the workforce.
The University of Southern Maine is a public university with 8,000 undergraduate and graduate students taking courses online and at campuses in Portland, Gorham and Lewiston-Auburn.
USM was ranked No. 3 among Maine's largest colleges and universities in the 2023 Mainebiz Book of Lists, based on full-time undergraduate enrollment, in fall 2022.
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