WSCC, Spectrum Health discuss increased partnership. 

WSCC Director of Nursing and Allied Health Shelley Boes, WSCC President Scott Ward, Spectrum Health Ludington Hospital President Drew Dostal view a high-fidelity manikin.

WSCC News is a presentation of West Shore Community College in partnership with Mason County Press.

WSCC, Spectrum Health discuss increased partnership. 

VICTORY TOWNSHIP — West Shore Community College President Scott Ward and Spectrum Health Ludington Hospital President Drew Dostal met recently and discussed ways to enhance the partnership between the two entities.

The collaborative relationship between WSCC and Spectrum Health is long standing. Many Spectrum Health locations throughout the region are clinical sites utilized by WSCC nursing and allied health students.

Touring campus and the nursing simulation labs, Dostal said he was impressed by the technology and spaces available. “It is a wonderful opportunity to have WSCC in our community and to be able to work so closely with the institution preparing students for the many careers in healthcare,” Dostal said.

The simulation labs are primarily used by the nursing program, but other programs collaborate to create different real-life scenarios. Shelley Boes, director of nursing and allied health, led the tour of the simulation and skills labs. “The nursing simulation was designed to be used by multiple programs on campus and our community partners, including hospitals and other healthcare facilities,” she said.

The simulation lab is a suite of four patient rooms, one control room, and one debriefing room. There are three adult high-fidelity manikins, one of which is an obstetric manikin, and two high-fidelity infant manikins. The high-fidelity manikins are controlled through computer programs as well as manual manipulation. The high-fidelity manikins offer a fully immersive simulation experience with heightened realism (they talk, sweat, breathe, cry, etc.,) along with programmable normal and abnormal breath sounds, abdominal sounds, and heart sounds. Training individually or in a team, learners can practice critical skills and clinical judgment through many simple and complex medical scenarios, all in a safe environment.

When making the decision to invest in the upgrades to the labs in 2019, Ward said that it was “No question of the value this adds to our programs, including Nursing, EMS, and Law Enforcement. Studies have shown that high-fidelity simulation training boosts knowledge retention, clinical judgment, and team performance.”

To learn more about the healthcare offerings at WSCC, visit www.westshore.edu.