The California State University, Dominguez Hills School of Nursing has announced the launch of its Stock Our Skills (SOS) Lab Campaign to raise $250,000 to equip a new clinical nursing skills lab on campus that is scheduled to open in summer 2009. “The School of Nursing continues to expand its program offerings to address needs in the nursing profession,” said school director Carole Shea. “This new skills lab is just part of those efforts. We are very excited to be able to provide a lab on campus that will be large enough to serve all of our programs,” she said. “But while we have the space designated and funds allocated toward renovations, we do not have the money to stock it. To ensure our students have a lab where they can receive the highest quality training, we need the community’s help and partnership.”
The new 4,000-square foot clinical skills lab will be located in the Natural and Behavioral Sciences building on campus. The space is currently being redesigned and renovated to accommodate offices and a reception area, a 30-seat computer lab/classroom, and a main nursing lab with an adjoining simulation lab.
The School of Nursing has already purchased two human patient simulators (METI men) that respond physiologically to real time computer-generated scenarios and received a generous donation of eight beds from Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance.
After successfully raising $250,000 in the SOS campaign, the new lab will also feature a fully equipped critical care bed unit, four examining table units for practicing physical assessments, full-sized child and adult mannequins and other body part models, as well as computers, video cameras, clinical training software, and everything from bed linens to IV poles, crutches to crash carts.
Currently the School of Nursing has a small clinical skills lab the size of a conference room, and also partners with local hospitals and CSU Fullerton for use of their facilities. The new skills lab will be able to accommodate the school’s on- and near-campus students (a couple hundred a semester; the School of Nursing enrolls approximately 1,200 students combined through its on-campus and national online programs), providing them opportunities to practice beginning and advanced skills in a realistic clinical setting on campus.
The SOS Campaign web site, www.csudh.edu/hhs/son/sos, includes more information about the lab, a wish list of equipment, as well as a link to contribute online.
To contribute by mail, make checks payable to the CSU Dominguez Hills Foundation and send to CSU Dominguez Hills, Office of University Advancement, 1000 E. Victoria St., Carson CA 90747. Write “Attention: Nursing SOS lab campaign” on the envelope.
For more information about the campaign, or to discuss donating equipment, call campaign chair Laura Inouye, coordinator of the Undergraduate Nursing Program, at (310) 243-2182.
For more information about the CSU Dominguez Hills School of Nursing, visit www.csudh.edu/hhs/son.
