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OU Simulation Lab Allows Nursing Students Hands-On Training

ROCHESTER (WWJ) - One metro Detroit university is taking a high tech approach to give students real world experience in a job where mistakes can be deadly.

When you're in the hospital, experience is critical — especially for the nurses who take care of you.

But how do they get that real life experience without practicing on patients?

At Oakland University, they train in a twenty-first century simulation lab, complete with high-tech mannequins and real-life scenarios.

A professor controls the simulation via computer in a nearby observation room, complete with unexpected complications to keep it real.

sim lab 051
(credit: Oakland University)
sim lab 043
(credit: Oakland University)

So what do students like OU senior Juliana Carlini get out of it?

"Just having that practice time to be able to communicate with the mannequin, be in that situation where you're performing the skills and getting feedback from your instructor and from other students," Carlini said. "That's really important."

When nursing students aren't training, the University uses the sim labs to give high school camp students a taste of what a career in medicine is like.

OU lab dummy
(credit: Oakland University)
OU lab
(credit: Oakland University)
SON Lab Tour MP4 REVISED by Oakland University School of Nursing on YouTube
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