Rollins School of Nursing welcomes students to new and renovated facility

47 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 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 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 also programmed to produce vital signs, to help students know what to expect when caring for infants and mothers in childbirth. Video cameras are positioned above each manikin so 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,” said Pickard. “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. 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 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,” 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 exams 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 items from Beebe Healthcare and from local businesses Blooming Boutique, King’s Ice Cream, Nectar, Surf Bagel and The Dental Group.