BROOMALL, P.A. (KYW Newsradio) — The nursing program at the Delaware County Intermediate Unit (DCIU) recently got a multi-million dollar upgrade to its facilities to better train people entering the field.
The center of the upgrade is a new custom-built space at the Marple Education Center in Broomall.
Stacy Delaney, supervisor of the DCIU nursing program, said the space adds four new classrooms and two simulation labs for students to get close to a real-world experience.
“It’s great for the students to be able to practice on a non-human first and so they can make as many mistakes as they need to, to really learn the skill before we go out to clinical sites and work with real people,” she said.
The labs can be altered to appear as a whole maternity ward or surgical floor to simulate the real-world locations in hospitals.
“So our students are able to walk into their new career and say ‘I saw this in simulation,’ and ‘I was able to practice this before,’ and ‘I was able to do it at our clinical sites as well with that confidence that I gained in the simulation labs,’” said Delaney.
She said the new facility will also allow them to grow the program from 100 to 200 graduates a year, which goes a long way in addressing the shortage of healthcare workers in the county.
“We’re excited to be able to expand not only our students’ abilities to come in, but also our employment opportunities for nurse educators,” said Delaney. “One of the big parts of the nursing shortage is a shortage of nursing educators and being able to provide a larger space we’re just going to be able to chip away at that nursing shortage.”