The University of South Carolina’s College of Nursing and Lexington Medical Center have cut the ribbon on a brand-new building that will enable the flagship university to increase the number of nurses they prepare for healthcare careers across the state. The doors of the new satellite clinical education building opened just in time to welcome nursing students this fall.
The project began as many collaborations do – through a conversation between leaders working to address overlapping challenges. In this case, it was the nationwide nursing shortage, which numbers in the tens of thousands and impacts the Palmetto state more than most.
“While South Carolina is gaining momentum to address the projected registered nurse workforce shortage by 2030, we are still one of the top 10 states with the highest projected shortage, and we have one of the lowest nurse-to-population ratios,” says Jeannette Andrews, who has led the College of Nursing as dean since 2013. “This new teaching and learning space offers a win-win opportunity to help solve South Carolina’s nursing shortage.”
Teaming up to tackle a statewide challenge
Andrews approached several industry partners to gauge their interest in working together to expand the facilities needed to train nursing students. She found an enthusiastic collaborator in Lexington Medical Center’s Chief Nursing Officer Melissa Taylor. They agreed that Lexington Medical Center would construct the $20 million building on the hospital system’s West Columbia campus, and the College of Nursing would raise additional funds to outfit the 52,000 square-foot space with the state-of-the-art equipment needed to prepare nurses for today’s complex health care needs.
“This innovative partnership will increase classroom space, add clinical instructors, and provide more clinical rotations sites,” Taylor says. In addition, the partners at Lexington Medical Center and USC College of Nursing will work together to enhance the curriculum to prepare future nursing leaders for the South Carolina workforce.
The new building will double the amount of space available in the previous center facility and allow the College of Nursing to increase their bachelor’s graduates by 80 percent (from 220 to 400 nurses per year) over the next decade. The new facility will house three large flexible classroom spaces, a Collaboratory for small group learning, and student study spaces. The state-of-the-art simulation center has an eight-bed acute care/hospital suite, a community apartment, a six-bed primary care suite, and three 18-bed skills suites.
A trickle-down effect of moving the existing simulation center to a new building is that the newly vacated space will be repurposed by the College on the Columbia campus with a new Biobehavioral Research Center to enhance their research mission and graduate nursing programs. The Biobehavioral Research Center will house an experimental “wet” lab, and a Clinical and Innovation Research Suite for faculty and students.
The partnership and the new center signify a key milestone for nursing majors at USC. During their first two years, USC students declare a pre-nursing major before applying to officially join the program for their final two years. This turning point is celebrated by the College’s annual Stethoscope Ceremony, which is – fittingly – sponsored by Lexington Medical Center.
The event kicks off two years of hands-on experience, with juniors and seniors learning new skills and facing real-life scenarios through the simulation center and clinical rotations. Thanks to the expansion, students can engage in simulations as a class – learning from one another and building teamwork skills. The clinical rotations take place at a network of hospitals and other clinical settings under the guidance of experienced nurses known as preceptors.
The best preparation for SC nurses
This approach offers the perfect pipeline for connecting students with nursing positions after they graduate. In fact, 70 percent of the graduates from the main campus in Columbia choose to stay in South Carolina. The College has the first nationally-accredited nursing program in the state, and its graduates are in the top one percent in the country for their pass rates on the national nursing license exam.
The new center will enhance what is already considered to be one of the top programs in the Southeast and in the nation. The doors of the new building will be opening this year, but the simulation center has been advancing nursing education for many years.
Known for its innovative, collaborative spaces equipped with the latest technology, the center has been accredited by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare since 2020. Students learn how to engage in surgical, psychiatric, pediatric, and maternal scenarios with both simulation equipment (e.g., manikins) and simulated participants (i.e., individuals who are trained to portray the history, symptoms, etc. of an actual patient or family member).
Innovators like assistant professor (and former center director/assistant dean for clinical simulation) Crystal Murillo are always looking for ways to take the center to the next level. In 2019, center colleagues used a grant from The Duke Endowment to launch Experilearn. Working with the state’s Office of Rural Health, the project has increased access to simulation training in rural areas by collaborating with practice partners across South Carolina, where more than 90 percent of the counties are rural and most of the nursing students in these areas continue to work after graduation.
In 2022, center faculty secured a Health Resources and Services Administration grant to incorporate social determinants of health (i.e., external factors such as race, geography, education, etc. that influence health) into simulation training for students. After years of minimal-to-no diversity in simulation labs across institutions, the center introduced the first two high-fidelity manikins of color in the state. By adopting a training curriculum aimed at helping faculty and students serve as social justice advocates, the program is designed to improve health outcomes for rural populations most at risk from social determinants.
A healthier future for the Palmetto state
The intentionality and comprehensive nature of the education nursing students receive at USC has served them (and their patients) well. Alumni report that there are almost no scenarios for which they have not been prepared, often stating that “this is a rigorous program, and now I know why.” They enter the healthcare field equipped to handle a wide variety of situations and confident that they can improve their patients’ lives.
Kelly Russin, a three-time USC nursing alumna who took the reins for the simulation center earlier this year, is perfectly positioned to serve at the nexus of this new partnership. She’s been a registered nurse with Lexington Medical Center since she graduated from South Carolina in 2010.
“Seeing the students use the new simulation space this fall is like observing them stepping into the nursing profession as the clinical decisions they make here will prepare them for their prospective careers,” Russin says. “The realistic environment will allow them to envision their future and build the confidence needed to be successful. I feel at home with the merging of my alma mater and the amazing hospital system I have had the pleasure to work for over the last 14 years.”
“Students are inspired that others are investing in their future,” Andrews says. “Lexington Medical Center, Prisma Health, the VA, and others have worked with USC to initiate employment opportunities and scholarships for student nurses to provide them additional time and training in the hospital setting to help prepare them for their future role. The nursing divisions in our hospitals and the College of Nursing have similar missions – to provide the highest quality and competent nursing care to aid in the recovery and restoration of optimal health for all the patients we so humbly serve.”