Charles Sturt University (CSU) today announced that it has asked the Federal Government for more than $2 million in funding to establish a major Regional Inter-Professional Clinical Simulation Centre for CSU at Bathurst.  The application was made under the Capital Development Pool Program administered by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.

 

The Regional Inter-Professional Clinical Simulation Centre will be a state-of-the-art clinical education centre consisting of an Emergency Department Resuscitation Simulation Unit, a Multi-Purpose Scenario Unit, a Control Room, lecture theatre and break out rooms. It will allow students to practise emergency health management skills in a realistic environment prior to undertaken ‘real-life’ practice in the community, hospitals and health facilities. 

 

“The majority of the health professionals (such as nurses and paramedics) are expected to be ready for professional clinical practice upon graduation,” said Professor Nick Klomp, Dean of the Faculty of Science.

 

“Clinical practice education is therefore critical for accreditation across the health professions to ensure students have real life experience in clinical decision-making.

 

“However, with increasing demands on our health system for clinical placements, the use of clinical simulation has grown to take some of the pressure off our regional hospitals and staff.

 

“The use of highly realistic simulators allows students to obtain high levels of competency in health assessment, critical thinking and decision making in a safe environment before they practise on real patients in high-pressure situations, such as saving someone’s life at an accident scene, or dealing with multiple trauma patients in an emergency department.

 

“Procedures can be performed repeatedly under specialist supervision, increasing competency and confidence of student practitioners without compromising patient safety.

 

“In Australia, clinical simulation facilities tend to be clustered in metropolitan centres and are specific to particular health professions.  This absence of clinical simulation facilities in regional areas exists despite the significant number of health practitioners working, and undergraduate and postgraduate health students training, in inland and regional communities.

 

“The Centre will incorporate high definition audio-visual monitoring and display equipment linked to the University backbone to allow remote participation in evaluation and observation across the whole campus network. The Centre will also provide a unique facility for regional-based health professionals to access continuing development and training in the latest technologies and techniques.

 

“The use of information and communication technologies for managing and recording simulations will allow students to observe simulations live, or view them at a later time for examination preparation or to refresh their skills,” said Professor Klomp. 

 

Charles Sturt University is one of Australia’s largest providers of both nursing and paramedic education, enrolling more than 1 800 students in these programs annually. It is the only provider of paramedical science programs in New South Wales and currently delivers emergency health management education in Canada and to students in other countries around the world from the Bathurst Campus. These numbers are expected to grow with additional commencing nursing places in 2008/9 and with rapidly increasing demand for tertiary-educated paramedics across State Ambulance Services.

The location of the Centre on the Bathurst Campus is part of the long term strategy of CSU to establish Bathurst as a centre for paramedical science. The Campus currently hosts the University’s paramedical science, nursing and midwifery courses, and the creation of this new Centre will support a range of students preparing for professional practice in these fields.

 

The University has received strong letters of support for this initiative from the NSW Ambulance Service, the Victorian Ambulance Service, and Western Institute of TAFE.