Share this story.

Nursing School Opens New Lab

By Jessica Allen (Class of 2003)

---

Click Photo to Enlarge Audrey Thompson (94-MSN), an instructor in the nursing school, holds an ophthalmoscope as she prepares to demonstrate an eye exam.

Click Photo to Enlarge The new lab is twice the size of the old one.

Click Photo to Enlarge The new cardiac monitor.

Click Photo to Enlarge Colorful bedding brightens the room.

On Sept. 20, the ORU Anna Vaughn School of Nursing celebrated the opening of its new simulation laboratory, located on the third floor of the Graduate Center near the school's offices. Dr. Kenda Jezek, dean of the school, addressed students, faculty, and alumni at a special reception held in honor of the event.

"We really need to thank God and thank the university for this new sim lab. It truly is a blessing," Dr. Jezek said.

The state-of-the-art facility is twice the size of the old lab, and includes eight mechanical hospital beds, four sinks, mounted blood-pressure cuffs, suction and oxygen units, ophthalmoscopes, otoscopes, and a cardiac monitor. Six computers will soon be added so that students can learn how to document patient records.

"I think it's important that the students receive the experience they need before having to go to a hospital," Jezek said. "And it increases their confidence and self-esteem as a group that the university has invested into the School of Nursing."

Senior Shera Swalley agrees. "It's an excellent portrayal of modern technology," she said. "My favorite things are the heart monitor and the vital signs monitor. Before, we didn't have those machines, so going into a hospital we didn't know how to use them."

Jezek, who has been with the nursing school for 17 years, said that the old lab's equipment was definitely due for an update.

"We've been very patient to wait," she said. "The impetus came when the Oklahoma Board of Nursing came to visit and recommended that we update our sim lab."

Now, according to the chief medical supplier in the state of Oklahoma, ORU has the best sim lab in the state. And Jezek says it will be well-used.

"The students are thrilled. This shows that ORU recognizes the legitimacy of the School of Nursing and the role it plays in this university," Jezek said. "We are uniquely situated to respond to God's purposes for the university--to take healing throughout the entire world, and to minister to the whole person as a patient. The sim lab is recognition that what we're doing is of value."