Lancaster Campus nursing program benefits from donation
LANCASTER, Pa. – Nursing students and faculty at the Lancaster Campus of HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College, are taking advantage of a high-fidelity maternity simulator provided through a donation of more than $44,000 from the HACC Foundation.

The maternity simulator, SimMom, provides a real-life clinical setting that allows nursing students to train on prenatal visits and common problems in maternity. SimMom can also demonstrate numerous high-risk obstetrical emergencies, and an actual delivery can be simulated.

“Having this new tool provides hands-on training and prepares HACC’s nursing students not only for their licensing exams, but for real-life clinical experiences,” said Betsy Musser, campus director of nursing.

“Adding the SimMom experience to the students’ education is an invaluable teaching tool,” Musser said. “It allows us to focus on situations that are seldom available in the clinical arena, or are so critical that students never get a chance to intervene.”

Heather Denlinger, assistant professor of nursing, added, “The new SimMom gives us capabilities that we currently do not have, such as fetal monitoring and students being able to see how their interventions can help or hinder the situation.”

The addition of SimMom for fall 2013 classes exceeded expectations, with standardized test scores improving. “Our ATI (Assessment Technologies Institute) scores have improved from last semester and the only difference between the two semesters was SimMom,” said Denlinger.

Ninety-six nursing students are enrolled in the nursing program each semester at HACC’s Lancaster Campus. Approximately 75 percent of the students go on to become registered nurses.

Lancaster Campus nursing administration, faculty and students extend a heartfelt thank you to the HACC Foundation for the financial support that made this program enhancement possible.

For additional information, contact Musser at blmusser@hacc.edu or 717-358-2917.

About HACC
HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College, offers nearly 200 career and transfer associate degree, certificate and diploma programs to more than 20,000 students at five campuses in Gettysburg, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Lebanon and York and through virtual learning. In addition, HACC serves more than 29,000 students in noncredit workforce development, public safety, adult basic education and continuing education programs offered at all campuses and off-site locations in many communities in Central Pennsylvania. For more information about what HACC has to offer, visit www.hacc.edu.
 
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