Media contact: Susan M. Slupecki, (817) 272-7078, slupecki@uta.edu

From the The University of Texas at Arlington School of Nursing website:
With funding from The University of Texas System ENTER program and a grant from the Amon Carter Foundation, the School has purchased the Pachl Office and Classroom Annex buildings, located on W. Nedderman Drive. Renovations will take place over the next few months with plans to open the Smart Hospital^TM in spring 2007.

The more than 13,000-square-foot, two-building complex will house state-of-the-science patient care units such as an emergency department, intensive care unit (ICU), labor and delivery, pediatrics and medical/surgical rooms with infant, child, adult and birthing manikins, as well as trained actors who play the role of patients and family members.

"We are very pleased to have the additional space to provide our students the most advanced teaching methods, technology and equipment that will best prepare them to enter the healthcare workforce as confident and competent new graduates," said Dean Elizabeth Poster.

Currently located in Pickard Hall, the Smart Hospital^TM uses 27 manikins (simulated patients), task trainers and computer simulations of patient conditions/nursing interventions to educate students in acute, trauma, emergency, intensive and primary care interventions. The 12 high-fidelity simulated patients can be programmed to present an array of health care problems across the life span with different degrees of severity and disease variations.

The Nursing ENTER (Enrich Nursing through Exceptional Recruitment) Program is intended to provide a laboratory to retain current faculty and facilitate the recruitment of faculty whose area of interest and research is the use of simulation and technology in the teaching/learning process.

There are three phases of the training:
PHASE 1 -- Phase I of the Smart Hospital, a virtual hospital setting, ensures optimum student learning through the use of patient simulators (interactive manikins) and other innovative learning technologies. Located within the School of Nursing, this setting prepares students for real-life situations before entry into the workforce and allows them an opportunity to experience patient conditions they may not otherwise encounter during their nursing education. The current 7,000 sq ft. of classroom space has reached capacity with demands escalating to meet the needs of 650 students and external requests by health care agencies. A $496,000 Congressionally Directed grant provided the funding for the Phase I Smart Emergency Department.