COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) – The University of South Carolina (USC) and Lexington Medical Center have partnered on an innovative facility to train nursing students.
USC’s Nursing College educates more than 2,000 students at three locations. Seventy percent of those graduates stay in South Carolina, yet the state has the ninth-largest nursing shortage in the country.
To counteract this, the university and Lexington Medical Center have joined forces.
“There is no shortage of people who want to be nurses, there is just a shortage of places to study. So this will help. They tell us there are three things they are struggling with: first, there is not enough space, second, there is a lack of teaching staff and third, there are clinical instructors. So Lexington Medical Center is helping with two of those things with this building and also providing the clinical instructors for all the students coming in,” said Melissa Taylor, vice president of patient care and chief nursing officer at Lexington Medical Center.
The new facility is primarily intended for third- and fourth-year undergraduate and graduate nursing students, providing them with additional classroom and teaching space, as well as simulation technology and work spaces.
According to USC, there are expected to be over 10,000 nursing job openings in South Carolina by 2030. In hopes of filling those positions, the university and Lexington Medical Center built this 50,000-square-foot facility.
“This building gives us the opportunity to increase the number of nurses we train and meet a critical need in the state,” said Michael D. Amiridis, USC president.
Lexington Medical Center funded the new facility and will provide clinical instructors when it opens next school year. What sets this new building apart is the simulation center.
“Probably the most impressive thing for me is the simulation lab, and you’ve probably heard a lot about it, but it’s very realistic. It’s going to give these students a lot of insight before they actually see patients, and it also provides them with an opportunity when they start seeing patients if they realize there’s a skill or something they need to improve on. It gives them a very realistic setup up top,” Taylor said
In addition, the building is equipped with a classroom, eight acute care suites, three primary care suites and nine conference rooms.
The building is located on the West Columbia campus of Lexington Medical Center, close to the hospital, facilitating clinical involvement as well as faculty and students.
According to USC, the university awards 900 nursing degrees nationwide each year.
Within five years of the facility opening, the university hopes to be training and graduating 400 nurses a year in the Midlands alone, and hopes to have a positive impact on the nursing shortage.
“We know not all of them will stay in the state of South Carolina, but the majority of their students will stay in South Carolina, so it helps all of us,” Taylor said.
Feel more informed, prepared and connected with WIS. For more free content like this, subscribe to our Email newsletterAnd Download our apps. Do you have feedback that can help us improve? Click here.
Copyright 2024 WIS. All rights reserved.
