Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Innovative Learning

Providing quality healthcare while maintaining or decreasing costs will depend on how technology is integrated in the fabric of the care given without losing the care and compassion needed for individualized care. This requires changes in educating nurses to embrace innovations in teaching and learning.

Therefore, I am proud to introduce the new Helene Fuld Pavilion for Innovative Learning, a unique educational center where technology meets the science of caring.

On the strategically renovated first floor of Fagin Hall, the Fuld Pavilion expands Penn Nursing’s simulation space to 7,000 square feet, equipped to best prepare students for evidence-based practices they will use as novice and expert nurses. The Fuld Pavilion features:

• Simulation rooms that are designed to reflect different care settings, including outpatient, hospital, and home care

• Interactive mannequins, diverse in age, gender, and race, and the capability for behavioral, live action, and high fidelity simulations

• Rooms outfitted with video systems to record students’ simulation experiences, maximizing opportunities for educational debriefing, evaluation, and reflection with faculty and fellow students

• The renovations include upgrades to the Brunner and general skills labs where students learn and practice nursing techniques in blood draws and patient monitoring.

These state-of-the-art learning tools integrate theory, research, and practice to build essential competencies in our nursing students. Simulations offer challenging but safe opportunities to review and assess the effectiveness of our students’ developing competencies, diagnostic abilities, and organizational and decision-making choices.

As the only undergraduate BSN program in the Ivy League, Penn Nursing leads the way as a model in nursing education. The high-tech, high-touch Fuld Pavilion shapes our students’ experience with the knowledge, the tools, and the best practices to influence care and policy around the world.