Grand opening for Nursing Clinical Simulation Center is Oct. 16 The public is invited to the grand opening of the College of Nursing Clinical Simulation Center at 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 16, at the College of Nursing building. The Simulation Center houses high-tech simulators to educate nursing students at UND. The virtual patients are capable of simulating nearly any possible human medical emergency including allergic reactions, the effects of nerve gas or weapons of mass destruction, drug overdoses, a severed limb, and other traumatic injuries. "These simulators help to improve the lives of every patient our graduates care for," said Chandice Covington, dean of nursing. Patient safety is the overriding issue in healthcare today. This equipment will provide students with real life, complex nursing clinical experiences prior to working with live patients. Students will become more effective and efficient in their approach to patient care. The key to successful nursing education is clinical simulation models. In an ideal world, students would be educated in the healthcare setting, hands-on, with real patients. However, healthcare has progressed to the point where prevention of disease and serious illness is the focus. Very few patients stay in hospitals for an extended period of time and, as a result, clinical rotations offer few opportunities for care. Through the use of clinical simulation equipment, students have the opportunity to learn hands-on what it takes to work in an emergency situation, how to diagnose more effectively and ultimately to be better prepared for any critical situation they could face. -- College of Nursing.