BRATTLEBORO — Vermont Technical College (VTC) opened its state of the art clinical learning and simulation center at its Brattleboro campus last week.
The additional 1,000 square feet of educational space is possible thanks to a $600,000 grant awarded to VTC through the efforts of U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
Clifford LaPlante, nursing site director of the Brattleboro campus, said he is pleased and grateful for the new addition.
“It enhances the entire educational experience. We can now teach things we wouldn't otherwise be able to.”
LaPlante, who has been a registered nurse for 34 years, has noticed a continual state of growth in VTC's nursing programs since his arrival nearly seven years ago.
“One of the things that struck me about the nursing department and the college almost immediately was that the nursing department has this desire for continuous quality improvement. It's constantly looking at student evaluations, at the many facets of the program, and at all the data, and constantly examining and reexamining everything. And no matter how good the numbers are, or how good the evaluation is, the question is always the same: 'How can we do it just a little bit better?'”
One way the college hopes to do things a little bit better is through “simulation technology.”
Simulators are very high-tech, life-like mannequins designed to do just about everything a real person can do, including breathe, talk and give birth. Through the use of simulation technology, the college's nursing faculty will be able to train students to handle just about any situation.
“VTC has always had a basic skill lab where first year nursing students learn very basic nursing skills,” LaPlante said, “but these high fidelity simulators will put students in situations they should know and experience, but may not have to deal with every day. We call these 'high risk/low incidence' situations, for example, a patient having a heart attack. It's hard to train for this sort of thing because people don't have heart attacks on cue.”