In 2019, the Michigan Board of Nursing approved the expansion of the number of seats Calvin can offer to its junior and senior students in the nursing program from 64 to 80.

Now, in 2020, the program is expanding the opportunities available on campus. A new state-of-the-art simulation lab is being created in the Science Building. While students will continue to do their clinicals in the main hospitals in Grand Rapids (Forest View, Mercy Health St. Mary’s, Metro Health, Pine Rest, and Spectrum Health), the reimagined space allows students to practice a wide range of health care scenarios on campus.

“Nursing simulation is a teaching method where we can create a scene or a situation that mimics the reality of a clinical situation across the health care continuum—so it could be inpatient or outpatient, a hospital or community-based setting,” said Jaclynn Lubbers, associate professor of nursing. “The nursing students then work to take care of the patient and family, collaborate, and communicate with the health care team while providing high-quality and safe care throughout the situation.”

The new space will incorporate video recordings in which professors can watch and record students working through a simulation scenario and then use the recording in their debriefing. Lubbers says the research states that this is where students demonstrate the most learning.