A handful of medical dummies at USF Health’s College of Nursing simulation lab can blink their eyes open.
One dummy in pink scrubs, known as a manikin, simulates a pregnant woman about to go into labor. Students can check her pulse and temperature, apply a blood pressure cuff and insert an IV. She’s in a real delivery bed with stirrups, and a baby manikin squirms nearby.
A vitals screen beeps at the pace of her heart rate. Behind the lab’s one-way mirror, professors in the control room can speak from the manikin and change what’s happening.
When professors simulate a postpartum hemorrhage, with fake blood and all, students practice massage techniques and keep an eye on the mom’s blood pressure, nursing student Emmalee Emmanuel said.
The labor and delivery room is one of six new advanced simulation labs, each with manikins that mimic human behavior in different scenarios.
The labs are part of a 42,000-square-foot expansion of the college intended to address Florida’s nursing workforce shortage — the state expects to need 20,000 additional nurses over the next decade, College of Nursing dean Usha Menon said.
USF celebrated the new space with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday with local leaders, students and faculty.
“Someday, many lives will be saved by the very students that we are training today and will train for generations to come,” USF president Moez Limayem said.
USF graduates more new nurses than any other Florida school, Menon said. The expansion will allow the university to enroll 500 more nursing students in the next two years, USF trustee Lauran Monberran said.
“Florida continues to grow at an incredible pace,” she said. “More families are choosing to call Florida home, and with that growth comes greater demand for healthcare professionals, especially nurses.”
The Legislature in 2022 approved $33 million for the project, which will be ready for students to use this fall. Monberren said her father, agriculture commissioner Wilton Simpson, secured the money when he was president of the state Senate.
The expansion includes modern clinical training areas, study spaces, classrooms and a nursing simulation center. Tampa General Hospital gave the university $4.4 million for the center.
The simulation rooms sit across from debrief rooms, where students go over assignments and receive their roles. Some are observers watching a livestream from across the hall, some act as family members and others are nurses. Afterwards, they discuss how they handled the situation.
Ariana Sawyer, student council president for the College of Nursing, said nursing can be a draining career. It’s intimidating, she said, because students are afraid of making mistakes.
“This simulation gives us a safe place to make those mistakes before someone’s health or life depends on the decisions we make,” she said. “That is an incredible gift.”
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