TJC nursing students will benefit from high-tech equipment for a new skills lab, thanks to a $167,394 grant from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Nursing Innovation Grant Program.
“These funds will be used to create a high-fidelity simulation lab in Jacksonville,” said Jodi Seal, TJC associate degree nursing department chair. “The lab will be composed of one adult simulator and one birthing mom simulator, including a newborn baby.
“It will also allow us to increase the size of our skills lab and acquire new equipment to support the increased number of students accepted into the program in Jacksonville.”
Seal said the equipment will give students the opportunity to apply simple and complex concepts via simulated patient care in a controlled environment; and, since the lab will be located in Jacksonville, students’ travel time to the Tyler campus will significantly decrease, as they will be able to participate in the simulation lab closer to home.
The goal of the grant program is to support the development of simulation and skills labs to expand capacity of nursing programs that prepare students for initial licensure as registered nurses.
It also seeks to assist nursing programs’ efforts in shifting clinical hours from traditional patient care clinical situations to simulation activities, enhancing students’ readiness for hands-on patient care, and increasing student enrollment and retention.
For more on TJC nursing programs, go to www.tjc.edu/nursing.