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Thanks to the partnership and generous $25,000 grant support from The Community Foundation, MVNU was able to purchase SimMan®. The total cost for this advanced piece of technology was over $40,000. Additional equipment and expanded space are in the works for MVNU’s nursing program for the near future.

ABOUT SIM-MAN
This specially designed more-than-a-mannequin learning tool is SimMan, a portable and advanced patient simulator for training. With the option of being male or female, it has realistic anatomy and clinical functionality. It provides simulation-based education to challenge and test students’ clinical and decision-making skills during realistic patient care scenarios. SimMan includes well-proven software and an interactive technologically advanced manikin allowing learners to practice the emergency treatment of patients.

"SimMan has arrived! He has been an exciting and challenging addition to our nursing curriculum. The mannequin and software provide incredible flexibility to create patient simulations for the student nurses to practice complex skills before they will use them in the clinical setting,” explained nursing professor Elaine Benedict. “I am able to program a variety of lung sounds, abdominal sounds, heart tones and heart rhythms. ‘He’ is even capable of simulating childbirth (after I change him up a bit!). He is so life-like I actually expect to come into the lab one day to hear him say, ‘Good morning, Professor Benedict.’”

AS REAL AS IT GETS
While nursing faculty program SimMan to experience a variety of health situations, MVNU students treat the mannequin, record their performance on the computer and return to evaluate and improve their care and techniques. Dr. Teresa Wood, dean for the School of Nursing and Health Sciences, commented that some students actually tend to forget that SimMan isn’t real. They sometimes hold its hand to provide comfort and empathy.

The students at MVNU appreciate the generosity of the Community Foundation. They’ve made it possible for us to have access to such a great learning tool, the SimMan,” Jamie Sanders, nursing student from Mount Vernon. “SimMan gives MVNU's nursing program a great advantage over other nursing programs in the state. It enables nursing students to realistically respond to many of the scenarios we will encounter in the real world of nursing, in a controlled educational setting.”

THANKS TO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
During Barone’s visit to MVNU, he donned a stethoscope and listened to SimMan’s heartbeat, various lung conditions, and examined his veins. Being a former EMS in Gambier, he easily recognized the value SimMan provides to both students and professors.

"The Community Foundation is pleased to partner with MVNU in acquiring this state-of-art teaching aid,” Barone commented. “We are confident our investment will pay great dividends as MVNU prepares tomorrow’s nursing professionals to care for Knox County families.”

The nursing program at MVNU continues to grow. The first clinical rotations for students begin this spring. Local residents can look forward to seeing our students at Knox Community Hospital, Licking Memorial, The Eastern Star Home, Country Court, the Living Center and many other places in the community. You will know them by their navy and blue uniforms with MVNU insignia and by their bright smiles. The students are so excited about upcoming clinical rotations and the expansion of the new clinical learning lab on campus.

ABOUT MVNU
For more information about MVNU’s nursing program, visit www.mvnu.edu/academics/nursing or call (740) 397-9000, ext. 3260.

Mount Vernon Nazarene University is a private, four-year, intentionally Christian teaching university for traditional age students, graduate students and working adults. U.S. News & World Report ranks MVNU in the top 50 Best in the Midwest (Bachelor’s-Comprehensive) institutions for the third year in a row. With a 400-acre main campus in Mount Vernon, Ohio, and eight additional satellite Adult and Graduate Studies campuses throughout the state, MVNU emphasizes academic excellence, spiritual growth and service to community and church. MVNU offers an affordable education to more than 2,670 students from 27 states and six countries/U.S. territories.