Center of Excellence

Mission Statement

The School of Nursing and Human Services, located in SMC’s College Services Building, is a designated “Center of Excellence” providing quality programs and services to students, employers, and the community. These innovative programs and services reflect current and projected educational needs of our dynamic society.

SMC’s SimMan® and Instructional Ambulance

SMC students receive real life medical training thanks to the SimMan® mannequin and an ambulance – all located right in the classroom. Both are instrumental in providing SMC’s healthcare students real-world training while still in the classroom.

“Our students can now experience a clinical scenario to the fullest potential right here in our classrooms,” said Elaine Foster, Dean of Academic Studies and the School of Nursing and Human Services for SMC. “It’s important to allow students to have access to quality programming with in the healthcare field. It’s the quality that is of utmost importance because it could be you, your baby or your mother that needs the care. We always strive for quality.”

SimMan®

SimMan®, manufactured by Norway-based, Laerdal Medical Co., is an unassuming mannequin. At first glance, you’d think this mannequin is similar to the one you learned CPR on back in high school – not so. This $42,000 robot can simulate just about any real-world medical problem. “SimMan breathes, talks, groans, can have an adverse reaction to medication and even go into cardiac arrest. You can program him to do and say just about anything,” Foster said. “We are very lucky to have him as part of our training program. There is a lot of merit to having him as part of our Center, not just for nursing, but for EMT and paramedic trainees, too.”

SimMan® operates from a computer with special software the SMC nursing staff is trained to use. This software allows each faculty member to create and execute their own real-life situations appropriate to what they are teaching at the time. SimMan®’s lifelike features make it easier for the students to think they are working on a real patient, instead of simulated robot.

SimMan® Simulation Features*

• Patented airway system allows highly realistic simulation of difficult airway management and patient care situations.
• Realistic practice of chest tube insertion.
• Physiologically correct bilateral carotid, bilateral femoral, brachial and radial pulses.
• Pre-programmed library of heart, lung, bowel and vocal sounds with an adjustable sound volume.
• Blood pressure may be taken automatically, palpated or auscultated; Korotkoff sounds are synchronized with pulse.
• ECG library of more than 2,500 cardiac rhythm variants allows cardiac monitoring, defibrillation and external pacing.
• IV training arm allows peripheral intravenous therapy.
• Realistic male/female body parts facilitates urologic procedures.
• Simulated patient monitor and SimMan® system can be operated using a
PC and/or by hand-held remote controls.

“It’s a great contribution to the training of the nursing and EMT students at SMC,” explained Dick Judd, former president of the SMC Foundation, the organization that donated the money to the college to buy this technology. “And the benefits don’t stop at the college. These students will eventually be employed at our local healthcare facilities, which will in turn, offer the community a higher level of care to its patients.”

Instructional Ambulance

SMC students studying to become Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) or paramedics will have the real life experience of working within the confines of an ambulance thanks to a donation from Life Care Ambulance Service. SMC may be the first college in the area that has an ambulance on site to use as a training tool.

The ambulance was a donation from the Battle Creek-based Life Care ambulance service which has a local station in Cassopolis. Through this donation, students will experience:

• What it is like to work in the close quarters of the actual back of an ambulance.
• The loading and unloading of patients.
• Real life training including scenarios allowing students to be trained and evaluated at the same time through the installation of cameras to record the students’ reaction during emergency situations.
• Utilizing SMC’s SimMan®, a computerized mannequin designed to simulate actual medical conditions, as a patient.
• The ability to learn from doing and redoing real life training scenarios.
• Experience what paramedics go through working inside an ambulance.

The ambulance will be used in SMC’s Emergency Medical Technician and Paramedic programs. EMT students are trained in Basic Life Support and can advance their employment opportunities by earning a one-year Specialty Certificate.

The College also offers an associate degree in Applied Science to students who want to become licensed paramedics. Employment opportunities for paramedics include private ambulance services and police and fire departments.

Creative Classroom

The Creative Classroom is a learning environment that invokes positive reactions from students when they first enter. The room, which is painted in swirls of blue-green, yellow-orange and red-violet, has ambient lighting with overhead lights that can help prevent seasonal effective disorder (SAD) through a dark winter.

The Creative Classroom is where Corinne Overmyer, psychiatric nursing instructor, and John Hartman, psychology instructor, instruct SMC’s students.

The room is the brainchild of Hartman and David Baker, SMC’s art instructor, who gave the room its artistic flare.

The Creative Classroom offers an environment which fosters harmony, openness, trust and student interaction, as well as a space to increase intellectual stimulation and critical thinking. Baker and Hartman added the full spectrum lighting because studies suggest there may be a correlation between the lighting and academic success. Individual tables that are easy to move were made part of the design so that students can pair up easily for group projects and instructors can literally change the direction of their lessons. “One wall was designed to influence energy levels, one wall is more calming,” Hartman said. “The ability to use all four walls gives us more flexibility in class.”

Other Amenities in the Center of Excellence
Computer Lab

A 24-unit computer lab is utilized for classes as well as an open lab for students. The computers provide access to curriculum specific and standard word processing software as well as internet access. More specific details of the software titles available and hardware specifications can be found online.

Health Labs

The health labs are equipped with flatwall modular units with suction and oxygen (compressed air) capabilities. There are two Hill-rom beds in each of the labs. Each of the labs has a standard mannequin and a “vital sim” mannequin designed for simulation and practice of a complete range of patient assessment and care procedures.

Common Areas

The creation of a homelike, welcoming environment helps support the theme of “The Science of Healing and the Art of Caring” adopted by the faculty and staff.

In addition, SMC encourages area healthcare workers to coordinate continuing education programs through SMC. Groups benefiting from the College’s healthcare training facility include EMS, fire and rescue workers, Medevac personnel and military. Contact Elaine Foster at 800-456-8675 for more information about how to organize a continuing education program with SimMan®.