Kirkwood Community College is home to one of the most advanced medical simulation centers in the state of Iowa.
Located on the second floor of Linn Hall, the Katz Family Healthcare Simulation Center is a focal point for many students studying healthcare.
“We work with all the health departments now,” said Tiffany Regenwether, simulation supervisor. “We’re one big team now: it’s nursing, respiratory therapy, paramedic. There’s a lot of programs in there.”
The simulators are modified mannequins that connect to medical machines to give different outputs depending on the needs of the simulation scenario. The simulators can change between various ages and races to give students a wide variety of experience with patients.
Students can apply a variety of medical tools to the simulators and even practice drawing blood.
“We have faculty members, adjuncts and instructors come in and run scenarios with their students,” said Regenwether.
“They offer the opportunity for us to provide real-world examples for our students in this simulated experience,” said assistant nursing professor Kiley Jordan. “It’s a safe area for them to practice their skills, practice their communication.”
Jordan continued, “It’s really nice that I can get all of my students into the exact same scenario. I can’t guarantee that out in practice. So things we talk about in class, we can then go and practice, and they can get the hands-on practice.”
Regenwether and Jordan both emphasized the safe environment that the SIM Center guarantees students. According to Jordan, it allows students to make mistakes and learn from them without risking the health of a patient.
“It’s familiarized me with getting comfortable in a situation that’s really stressful and I feel like I can mess up,” said nursing major Kylan Malee Horn. “I feel like it’s really helped me connect my learning environment from the classroom to in-person in a safe place.
“It’s intimidating and it can feel very real at times: you just get very anxious and overwhelmed. But at the same time, it’s super neat to see how these makeshift worlds can feel so real.
The SIM Center is one of the areas on campus that would benefit from the proposed $88 million bond referendum. The college plans to expand the learning space and update equipment and labs.
Categories: Feature
