As Nursing student Greta Amstutz entered her sophomore year, she looked forward to the role that simulation would play in preparing her to be a great nurse. Building on the fundamentals and foundations in nursing she’d already learned her freshman year, simulation would make her classroom course work come to life. She was ready for the boost in confidence and experience the simulation center would give her.
But even she couldn’t predict how wonderful the new Ascension Center for Clinical Simulation would really be — two entire floors dedicated to excellence in simulation within the renovated David A. Straz Jr. Hall, which opened in August 2024.
“It’s been super exciting,” she says. “My learning experience has already improved, as I’m able to fit in more hands-on practice whenever I want.”
More than twice its former size, the center represents a powerful commitment to prepare the next generation of practice-ready nurses — underscored by significant investments in cutting-edge equipment and technology.
Expanding what’s possible
Endorsed by the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation in Learning, or INACSL, in 2024 for excellence in healthcare simulation education, the college has been recognized for its dedication to prebriefing, facilitation, professional integrity and debriefing.
Prebriefing and debriefing refer to the wraparound process accompanying each simulation and are grounded in simulation best practices. Prebriefing prepares students by establishing expectations, goals and psychological safety — decreasing anxiety. Debriefing involves reflective discussion after the simulation, allowing for learning and insight. A positive learning experience doesn’t happen without ample preparation, prebriefing and debriefing on the simulation at hand.
“In simulation, we’re helping our students prepare themselves to do the work of nursing while making connections to their coursework and fostering reflection about their beginning nursing practice,” says Amanda Potter, clinical instructor. “It’s all within a safe, controlled environment.”
Earlier this month, Potter held a simulation where her students gave a manikin a blood transfusion. Students knew there would be an adverse patient reaction, creating an emergency. “That’s somewhat rare. A reaction doesn’t happen all the time. And, in a clinical setting, they’d likely be asked to step aside rather than handle this emergency head-on,” she shares.
Dr. Amber Young-Brice, assistant professor and associate dean for academic affairs, says students have found even more confidence in their skills and joy as they practice. “The new center has energized them. We’re engaging their emotions. They’re jazzed up and are forming important memories of their learning.”
Marquette’s commitment to creating a psychologically safe environment for learning starts at the beginning of every simulation. An important statement called The Basic Assumption is read aloud, stating, “We firmly believe that everyone who participates in simulation is intelligent, capable, cares about doing their best, and wants to improve.”
“We have our guiding star, the Marquette Nurse…that is how we make sure our processes are aligned, connected and have a purpose. It’s all for student development. And I’d like to think that that’s what sets us apart.”
Dr. Amber Young-Brice, assistant professor and associate dean for academic affairs
When learning critical skills for the first time, students can experience a lot of stress. But when faculty openly walk through the exercise at hand, they create a collaborative environment during debrief. They welcome group discussion and sharing thoughts, perspectives, alternative ideas and peer-to-peer feedback, leading students to feel more receptive to constructive feedback and feel supported for their next go around.
And now, prebriefing and debriefing happen with a lot more ease. “We went from four briefing rooms to nine in the new building,” says Anne Costello, center director.
The simulation space — built for current and future needs
The curriculum to become a nurse is highly intentional, with Marquette using simulation in all four undergraduate years. First, freshmen take part in a poverty simulation as part of the course Nursing and Health in the Jesuit Tradition. As sophomores, they participate in two semesters of Skills Labs, where their instructors demonstrate how to conduct head-to-toe assessments and perform other psychometric nursing skills in a large group setting. Students experience these skill-building scenarios repeatedly, becoming more assured deploying their critical thinking skills while gaining retrieval practice and building muscle memory.
“We’ve gained so much more space to make immersive simulation possible,” Costello says. The labs reserved for skills practice are now substantively larger — wide rooms filled with a dozen clinical beds, perfect for individual skill building as part of a larger group. It’s part of an impressive overall expansion — increasing from 7,800 square feet to 19,400 square feet.
Graduate anesthesiology student Tylor Willoughby practices high-acuity airway scenarios under pressure and is impressed with its performance, saying, “I really feel like I’m in the OR.”
Complementing the large-format labs are six highly configurable, high-fidelity simulation rooms, each set up with distinct patient care possibilities: an ICU, pediatrics, medical-surgical, OB/GYN and more available for configuration.
Rounding out the simulation center are an operating room with an attached prebrief/debriefing room; a home health care apartment that can accommodate standardized patient actors who simulate care needs; four outpatient exam rooms with attached nursing stations; and the nine additional prebrief/debrief rooms.
Student-first experience
“We can run multiple scenarios across several simulation rooms simultaneously with way more ease than before,” shares Matt Brune, graduate student in the Nurse Anesthesia program. “We’re really dialing in our skills to be well prepared.”
Mairin Mott, a sophomore in nursing, loves her time dedicated to skill building in the new center. “It’s my favorite. We learned to administer IV medications. I honestly would have never thought that we could practice this with an artificial arm and have it replicate a real limb. It felt very hands-on,” says Mott.
During simulation, juniors and seniors work in small groups, within pre-established care scenarios inside specialized simulation rooms. A simulation operator runs the sim behind observation glass, while a faculty member observes the students and fellow classmates observe from a separate room through advanced A/V technology.
Experiencing patient care scenarios as if they’re real complements students’ clinical off-site experience. Simulation also fills the gap of less common scenarios that students may or may not encounter in clinicals but will still need to know confidently to become proficient nurses. Think small to large emergencies as well as scenarios involving end of life care, substance abuse or when a patient codes.
No longer scattered across campus, the Nurse Anesthesia Doctor of Nursing Practice program has its own designated space, a mock operating room with attached debriefing room. Graduate anesthesiology student Tylor Willoughby practices high-acuity airway scenarios under pressure there and is impressed with its performance, saying, “I really feel like I’m in the OR.”
New and improved equipment and technology
Long gone are the days when nursing students would practice on each other to learn these clinical skills. “Years ago, that’s simply what they did. Our alums are blown away by advanced simulation technology when they see it,” says Young-Brice.
With an updated space came the need to keep pace with new technology in industry. “We made a capital investment in newer manikins and equipment, but we preserved where we could,” says Costello. These cutting-edge tools often surprise and wow students.
The aforementioned simulated veins connect to artificial blood. “When you hit the vein you can draw blood. It felt very real and exciting,” says Amstutz. And the college has purchased advanced manikins with features such as pupil dilatations, stroke simulation, coding, chest compressions, verbal responses, and much more, supported by a $1.6 million federal grant.
High-fidelity experiences
Anything faculty and staff can do to expose students to the type of workflows they’ll encounter on the job, they’re doing to make students all the more practice ready. The college already does this by handling charting through a first-ever pilot program with nationwide provider Epic and its Lyceum platform — an educational version of the electronic health records software used in many hospitals.
Young-Bryce explains that in every decision the college makes, from onboarding new equipment to designing the new building, the college team weighs how it will impact the development of their students into excellent nurses. “We have our guiding star, the Marquette Nurse. We know what that looks like, so do our stakeholders, and so do our clinical partners.”
“That is how we make sure our processes are aligned, connected and have a purpose. It’s all for student development. And I’d like to think that that’s what sets us apart.”
