A collaboration between Pitt Community College (PCC), Vidant Medical Center (VMC), and the Golden Leaf Foundation, a non-profit organization that funds projects that seek to advance the economic well-being of North Carolinians, has allowed the college’s health sciences division to open a new simulation-based training hospital.

The simulation hospital is the crown jewel of a renovation project that expanded the school’s medical training facilities. The new building now also includes simulation laboratories, an emergency medical sciences classroom and laboratory, a hot lab for Nuclear Medicine Technology, and many more training classrooms and labs.

The simulation hospital is equipped with the same tools found in a real hospital and will provide students with a real-world training environment so they can develop and practice the clinical skills that will make them effective health care professionals. The students will practice these skills on several different manikins including Gaumard’s high-fidelity manikins SUSIE S2000 and HAL S3201.

The goal of the new simulation hospital is to improve the health and wellbeing of eastern North Carolinians and make sure their students are prepared to care for patients. A simulated hospital allows the college to simulate the work environment of a hospital, so students become familiar with the stress and pace of the work before they enter the real world.

Moreover, the simulation hospital also allows students to work across functional lines and integrate health care services, so they are better prepared to work with EMTs and other specialists.

The simulation hospital continues a long-standing partnership between PCC and Vidant that benefits both institutions. Currently, the college accepts 225 nursing students a year, but once the simulation hospital opens, the nursing program will expand to 300 students.

Likewise, VMC requires about 300 new nursing staff annually. Therefore, the PCC-VMC partnership means the hospital has access to highly-trained health care professionals who have the skills and confidence to enter a hospital and provide high-level care to patients.

Watch the full story at the Pitt Community College YouTube page.

To learn more about SUSIE S2000, HAL S3201, or any of Gaumard’s other manikins, visit the Gaumard HOMEPAGE.