At Wheaton, every nursing course integrates hands-on learning. You’ll practice skills in our state-of-the-art simulation lab with high-fidelity manikins and hospital-grade technology and equipment. This is your space to ask bold questions and learn from mistakes in a safe, supportive environment. By the time you begin your first clinical placement, you’ll have the technical precision and confidence to work in diverse healthcare settings.

Simulation Lab

Our five hospital-grade simulation rooms immerse you in realistic clinical scenarios. Each simulation includes preparation before the experience, an interactive clinical scenario, and a guided debrief where faculty help you reflect, learn and improve. You’ll master the science of nursing and the art of providing calm, empathetic care to patients and families.

Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

Learn how to recognize and respond to clinical emergencies in real-time. Practice skills on high-fidelity manikins that mimic human physiological responses to pain (such as labored breathing, low or increased heart rates, and fluctuating blood pressure.)

Pediatrics

Work with infant and child-sized manikins to help adjust your technical skills and communication style for younger patients and their families.

Labor and Delivery

Work with a specialized maternal simulator that can actually “give birth,” allowing you to practice routine deliveries and high-stakes obstetric emergencies.

Medical-Surgical

Learn how to manage care for adult patients with complex health conditions. You’ll practice everything from post-operative recovery to managing chronic illnesses in a fast-paced hospital environment.

Community Room

Train in a simulation space that mimics a residential setting. You’ll learn how to assess patient safety, manage medications, and provide compassionate care in a home-health or outpatient context where resources and environments vary.

Skills Lab

Practice high-risk skills such as inserting IVs and catheters to wound care and sterilization techniques. Mastering these techniques on our manikins gives you the confidence to provide patient safety and comfort in a clinical setting.

Lab Equipment

Gain experience caring for patients across the lifespan using the advanced technology found in real clinical environments:


  • Five fully equipped simulation bays
  • Five control rooms
  • Four debriefing rooms
  • Nurse’s station and dedicated office space
  • Audiovisual recording, live streaming and playback for debriefing
  • Advanced equipment and training manikins

  • Pyxis MedStation ES system
  • Ventilator
  • Hill-Rom hospital beds and birthing bed
  • Stryker crib
  • Fully-stocked emergency carts
  • Computers on wheels for electronic documentation

 

Student Safety and Success

Our simulation labs provide a safe, supportive environment dedicated to fostering clinical excellence and confidence. Guided by the Massachusetts Board of Nursing Simulation and International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning , we maintain the highest standards of safety and success in alignment with our program accreditation. Please refer to the Nursing Simulation Lab Manual for more information.

Mission

To provide high quality, simulation-based experiences in a safe environment for learning that promotes social justice, health equity and global health. Through the thoughtful use of best practices in simulation education, students will acquire clinical skills, improve clinical judgment, and develop leadership skills that are essential to improve health outcomes and impact healthcare care delivery, locally, nationally and globally.

Vision

To be recognized as a leader in healthcare simulation that is committed to creating realistic, innovative simulation-based educational experiences in a student-centered environment which inspires and empowers future nurses to be leaders in advancing health justice and global health.

Accreditation

The Nursing Simulation Lab at Wheaton College is accredited by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH) . Simulation experiences are led by expert nursing faculty and a Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator, with technical support to ensure every experience runs smoothly and safely.