Step inside the ‘mini hospital’ where Sioux Falls students now are training

This paid event listing is sponsored by Southeast Technical College.

The newest addition to the health care education landscape in Sioux Falls is about as state of the art as you’ll find anywhere.

Southeast Technical College recently held a ribbon-cutting to officially launch its Healthcare Simulation Center, which has cutting-edge technology ready for students on the Sioux Falls campus. It’s in a renovated building at 2329 N. Career Ave.

“The Healthcare Simulation Center is huge for Southeast Tech,” said Kristin Possehl, dean of curriculum and instruction for health care programs.

“With the high demand for health care professionals in the region, the additional space created by a new building on campus will allow Southeast Tech to admit more students, increase enrollment and produce more health care professionals for the region.”

The facility is the only one of its kind in the region, equipped with advanced simulation technology, including high-fidelity simulator manikins, virtual reality systems and interactive learning modules. The facility includes a simulated emergency room, intensive care units, clinical exam rooms, surgical suites, hospital patient rooms and medical laboratory facilities.

“The Healthcare Simulation Center was designed as a miniature hospital so that students can learn in an environment that mirrors where they will be working after graduation,” Possehl said.

“Students will be learning alongside students of other disciplines and learn to clarify roles, communicate effectively, mutually respect and be in tune to situational awareness with one another and various care settings.”

Encountering realistic scenarios, students will be able to sharpen their skills and refine techniques, creating a dynamic learning environment that will lead to the highest standards of patient care and clinical excellence.

STC’s invasive cardiovascular technology, medical lab technician, nursing and surgical technology programs will be based in the new Healthcare Simulation Center, allowing students from multiple disciplines to learn side by side and work in teams.

“In addition, all health care programs will have the opportunity to participate in a simulation,” Possehl said. “For example, our paramedic science program students would bring patients to the simulated emergency room, where they may require an ultrasound from a sonography student and to have blood drawn by a phlebotomy student. In a nursing simulation, a patent may need to be seen by a respiratory therapist.”

Upon graduation, STC students, exposed to inter-professional simulation activities in this setting, will be career-ready for the health care industry — and the industry already has shown its commitment to them.

Avera Health and Sanford Health provided funding for the remodeled facility, while community partners Forward Sioux Falls and the Sioux Falls Development Foundation have provided ongoing financial support that has allowed Southeast to work toward ownership of the facility. The support of Gov. Kristi Noem and the state of South Dakota provided funding for all the simulation equipment being used by students.

“This was truly a community effort and a demonstration for public and private organizations working together to fill a community need,” Southeast Technical College president Bob Griggs said.

“Taking care of simulated patients in these realistic environments allows our students the opportunity to develop critical and necessary skills before they go out and provide care to real patients. This is truly a transformative model of health care education and simulation training.”