A new class of nursing students are experiencing real-world scenarios in a new simulation center on the Fayetteville campus of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). All UAMS students in Northwest Arkansas will eventually use the center.
UAMS’s new accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) is a 15-month program designed to quickly transition those outside the profession into nursing. It is open to applicants with a bachelor’s or higher degree in any field and requires prerequisite grounding in health sciences such as anatomy, physiology, chemistry, and microbiology. The first class of 24 students started the program in June 2022 and will graduate in August 2023.
The UAMS College of Nursing will continue to offer its traditional BSN program on the Little Rock campus.
The 3,400-square-foot simulation center will provide a state-of-the-art training space for students in all of the UAMS education programs in Northwest Arkansas, according to Jay Gandy, PhD, associate provost of the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus.
“The simulation center will be used to train the best and brightest future health care professionals right here in Northwest Arkansas — who will then provide the highest quality of care for the patients they will serve,” Gandy said. “Beginners can gain confidence in new skills, and seasoned health care professionals can master the continuously growing array of new technologies.”
The simulation center supplements classroom learning and clinical settings with the use of standardized patients, patient simulator manikins, and other high-fidelity simulation that offers interactive, challenging learning experiences in a safe, nonthreatening environment for students.