<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=49BWnP_1Dnb5kTD00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=49BWnP_1Dnb5kTD00" width="1174" height="660" >Bozeman, Mont. — The patients inside Montana State University’s new nursing simulation labs can breathe, respond to treatment and show signs of medical distress.They can also give nursing students something a traditional classroom cannot: the opportunity to make a difficult decision, see how the patient reacts and learn from the outcome without putting a real person in danger.A $2.5 million grant from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust will help MSU equip state-of-the-art simulation labs at all five locations of the Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing.The funding will pay for simulation equipment, furniture, technology and audiovisual systems inside new nursing education buildings in Billings, Bozeman, Great Falls, Kalispell and Missoula.“Simulation education is one of the cornerstones of Montana State University’s nursing program,” MSU Vice President for Communications Michael Becker said.“It allows our students the opportunity to take part in realistic scenarios with either manikins or actors who can present them with scenarios that they might see in a clinical environment or when they’re out there in their careers, but it does so in a risk-free environment,” Becker said. “They can make the mistakes now without putting anyone at risk, and then they can learn from those mistakes to become better and stronger Bobcat nurses.”The five buildings were funded through a historic $101 million gift from Mark and Robyn Jones in 2021. That donation covered construction, but MSU needed additional philanthropic support to purchase the equipment and technology required to make the simulation spaces fully operational.Becker said the Helmsley grant helps take the buildings from physical spaces to modern training facilities.“What we needed after that was additional funding to help fill those buildings with the modern, state-of-the-art equipment that’s going to help our nurses thrive,” Becker said.Each simulation lab includes four life-size manikins representing an adult, a 5-year-old child, a pregnant patient capable of simulating labor and delivery and a newborn.The technology allows the manikins to respond as students assess and treat them. Faculty members can control a scenario from a separate control room while other students observe the exercise as it unfolds.Students may encounter routine situations, such as communicating with an upset patient or delivering difficult news. Other exercises can require them to respond to a medical emergency, provide critical care or practice procedures they may rarely encounter during a traditional clinical rotation.“They could be dealing with more non-routine matters, such as needing to intubate someone or to provide critical care to that manikin or to that actor,” Becker said.The exercise does not end when the simulated emergency is over. Students then review what happened with instructors and classmates, allowing them to discuss their decisions, recognize mistakes and learn from how others approached the same situation.MSU nursing students are required to complete 120 hours of simulation training during the two-year program, amounting to approximately one simulation course each semester.The college also plans to expand the training available to Doctor of Nursing Practice students studying to become family nurse practitioners, psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners and nurse-midwives.Simulation has also become increasingly important as nursing programs face difficulty securing some traditional clinical experiences, particularly pediatric and obstetric rotations.The labs allow MSU to make sure students encounter both common medical situations and rare emergencies before graduating. Unlike a traditional clinical setting, instructors can also control the pace of a scenario and ensure each student is exposed to specific skills and challenges.The impact of that training is expected to extend beyond the five campuses.Between 500 and 600 new nurses are licensed in Montana each year, with roughly half graduating from MSU. The college currently produces more than 300 bachelor’s-prepared nurses annually, and more than 75% remain in Montana after graduation.“Graduating stronger Bobcat nurses means better health care for the state of Montana,” Becker said.“What we’re doing is helping rural Montana — all Montana communities — fill nursing workforce gaps,” he added. “That means better health care, better outcomes for Montanans and, obviously, good career options for our students.”The college is working toward increasing the number of bachelor’s-prepared nurses it graduates to 400 by 2030.MSU officials say that growth is especially important in rural communities, where hospitals and clinics may have fewer employees, limited access to specialists and a greater need for nurses prepared to respond to a wide range of situations.The simulation labs are intended to give students that experience before their first shift requires them to use it on an actual patient.“It improves the facilities that we have available, bringing them up to a state-of-the-art environment for our students to learn in,” Becker said. “That means they will have better experiences in those simulation laboratories and become better-prepared Bobcat nurses when they graduate.”Nursing students in Great Falls have used their new simulation space since the fall of 2025, when the building opened ahead of schedule.The remaining nursing buildings and equipped simulation spaces in Billings, Bozeman, Kalispell and Missoula are expected to be ready for students this fall.Becker said prospective nursing students interested in seeing the facilities can contact the college about visiting one of its five campuses.“We hope that if anyone out there is considering becoming a nurse in the state of Montana and they want that education, we welcome them to come to campus, see the facilities that we have available here or at any of our other nursing campuses around the state, and to become Bobcat nurses themselves,” Becker said.</div></body>

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Bozeman, Mont. — The patients inside Montana State University’s new nursing simulation labs can breathe, respond to treatment and show signs of medical distress. They can also give nursing students something a traditional classroom cannot: the opportunity to make a difficult decision, see how the patient reacts and learn from the outcome without putting a real person in danger.

High-tech MSU simulation labs prepare nursing students for real patients

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Bozeman, Mont. — The patients inside Montana State University’s new nursing simulation labs can breathe, respond to treatment and show signs of medical dis

High-tech MSU simulation labs prepare nursing students for real patients

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