Margaret H. Rollins School of Nursing at Beebe Healthcare Welcomes Students into new and renovated facility
Forty-seven students have started the 2015 fall semester at the Margaret H. Rollins School of Nursing at Beebe Healthcare, marking the culmination of years of planning for the School’s expansion and the beginning of a new era in nursing education for southern Delaware.
“We are proud of the Margaret H. Rollins School of Nursing and how it has continued to advance education and clinical experience since its beginnings in 1921,” says School Program Administrator Karen Pickard, MSN, RN, CNE. “Today, we also are excited to start the first semester in our modernized and expanded facility. We look forward to continuing to prepare our students to give compassionate and expert care to their patients in an ever-changing healthcare environment.”
In July, Beebe Healthcare completed the $10 million construction project on the school, located on Beebe’s main campus in the City of Lewes. The new, three-story, 18,000-square-foot building houses the latest in nursing education technologies, including computerized medical simulation manikins that open and close their eyes, move their chests as they breathe, and even moan and bleed. These wireless manikins look like people and can be programmed to produce the symptoms of chronic disease, acute illness, or a medical event for which the nurses need to be prepared. One of the manikins even delivers an infant manikin, which is programmed to also produce vital signs, to help students know what to expect when caring for mothers in childbirth. Video cameras are positioned above each manikin so that the student nurses can be filmed as they participate in the patient-care scenarios. These films, and how the students responded, are then discussed by student groups and faculty.
The expanded facility also includes modern classrooms with state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment, advanced clinical laboratories, an expanded library and student space, seminar rooms and administrative offices.
“As a hospital-based school, we also can offer our students more opportunity for clinical experience and to observe the latest procedures being performed by Beebe’s medical staff,” Mrs. Pickard pointed out. “We in healthcare are facing a situation in which the patients being admitted into the hospital are seriously ill, often with multiple problems, and nurses have to be prepared. Consequently, medical advances are being seen at the local level, and we see them at Beebe.”
These increasing demands in patient care and the ongoing advances in medicine have meant that the School is continually revising its curriculum as it meets the requirements of the accrediting body, The Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN). Educational standards are raised continually.
As part of their clinical experience, the students also observe patient care in physician offices, at a mental health facility, and at a school that cares for children with special needs.
“We have created a more collaborative approach to improve our students’ critical thinking and decision making,” said Mrs. Pickard. Instead of just traditional lectures, the students and faculty have discussions and the students do their own research into evidence-based practices. In turn, they recently had the opportunity to present their findings to Beebe nurses at educational programs, offering the students another opportunity to advance their knowledge and to collaborate with experienced medical staff. All faculty members at the School also teach in the clinical setting, enabling them to maintain clinical expertise and the ability to stay current with policies and procedures.
“This way our students know that faculty remain current and are experts in their field,” Mrs. Pickard said. “They also know that their education is meaningful and preparing them for the real world.”
Graduates of Margaret H. Rollins School of Nursing have continually performed well when they have taken their state board to become registered nurses. The students also have the opportunity, through partnerships with the University of Delaware and Wilmington University, to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing.
Students were provided with welcome bags with the following items from Beebe Healthcare and from the following businesses:
• Blooming Boutique
• King’s Ice Cream
• Nectar
• Surf Bagel
• The Dental Group
Caption: First-year students at Margaret H. Rollins School of Nursing have begun their classes. They are pictured here in front of the school, from left to right, back row: Ryan Gray, Casie Lewis, Katie Dukes, Christopher Miller, Jeremy Calloway, Chella LaCroix, Mary Morris, Justin McMullen, and Marcelle Brady. Those in the front row are: Brooke Tephabock, Kara Voss, Bethany Campbell, Melissa LaRue, Mariya Soto, Emily Macklin, Anna Merrick, Alissa Porter, Megan Pusey, Lydia Cole, Jessica Deptula, Lindsey Garcia, Shelby Gray, Matthew Strazella, Hannah Springer, and Hugo Parker.
Beebe Healthcare is a not-for-profit community healthcare system with a charitable mission to encourage healthy living, prevent illness, and restore optimal health for the people residing, working, or visiting in the communities we serve. It offers services throughout Southern Delaware for residents and visitors, including a 210-licensed-bed hospital, a cancer center, and outpatient facilities providing walk-in care, lab, imaging, and physical rehabilitation services. For more information, please visit us online at Beebe Healthcare.