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New Construction to Support Growth and Ensure Quality

1/31/2018

Riverdale, N.Y. – Enrollment in the Undergraduate College at Mount Saint Vincent has grown by more than 10 percent since 2010. In recent years, out-of-state students have accounted for as many as one-fifth of entering students. In order to uphold the College’s longstanding tradition of providing exceptional educational value to a growing student population, Mount Saint Vincent is planning for new Nursing Simulation Laboratories and additional residential space on campus through the construction of a new building.

The College has developed plans for a six-story building, totaling 64,000 square feet, to be located between Founders Hall and Seton Hall. The Nursing Program will occupy the first two floors, while resident students will have suite-style housing throughout the rest of the building. Separate entrances for the Nursing Simulation Laboratories and the residence hall will ensure the seamless functioning of the building’s dual purpose.

The Nursing Program—which is frequently recognized for its outstanding commitment to student success—is one of the College’s most rigorous and competitive academic programs. Expanding facilities will help keep Mount Saint Vincent’s Nursing Program among the best in the region. State-of-the-art, self-contained, high-fidelity Nursing Simulation Laboratories will support nursing clinical training and prepare our students for practicum placements in health care settings.

“We have a duty to train our students to handle the increasing complexity of nursing care,” said Judith Erickson, Dean and Professor of Nursing. “Patients today are much sicker, presenting more complex diseases than ever before. Fully-equipped, technologically-advanced labs are essential to the Mount’s commitment to offer that high-level training.”

The new construction will feature highly sophisticated laboratories, consisting of assessment and evaluation rooms, hospital beds, lifelike robotic simulators, and live exam rooms. The technology reflects the latest and best practices for training nursing professionals, such as observation rooms with one-way mirrors and video cameras to enable live observation and evaluation, as well as real-time playback.

Mary DiBuono, Director for Clinical and Simulation Learning, recalled a time when nursing students learned many skills by practicing on each other—an outdated method that falls far short of the ideal. “We’re constantly reviewing best practices, and our goal is to prepare our students for the highest levels of proficiency and competence before they ever set foot in a clinical setting.”

The simulation experience enables students to encounter the sights, sounds, and responses of a real patient, safely and under supervision. Depending on the lesson programmed by the instructor, the simulator can breathe, talk, go into cardiac arrest, respond to medication, and more—“anything a real patient might do, but without the high stress of a real-life emergency,” said Ms. DiBuono.

The new labs will be available to all undergraduate nursing majors and graduate students enrolled in one of three nursing specialty tracks. While the curriculum will remain the same, the laboratories will allow for expansion as the programs continue to grow.

“These plans anticipate and prepare for continued growth,” said Dr. Erickson. “Our students deserve the very best in technological capabilities that will prepare them to join the ranks of the best-trained healthcare professionals of the future.”

This story originally appeared in the College’s 2017 Annual Report.

Learn more about the College’s Nursing Program

About the University of Mount Saint Vincent
Founded in 1847 by the Sisters of Charity, the University of Mount Saint Vincent offers nationally recognized liberal arts education and a select array of professional fields of study on a landmark campus overlooking the Hudson River. Committed to the education of the whole person, and enriched by the unparalleled cultural, educational, and career opportunities of New York City, the College equips students with the knowledge, skills, and experiences necessary for lives of professional accomplishment, service, and leadership in the 21st century.