About Us

The Joel Bishop Nursing Skills and Technology Center (NSTC) serves as a significant learning resource environment for the School of Nursing. The NSTC is a multifunctional teaching and learning laboratory that provides an excellent opportunity for independent learning, self and mediated instruction, and simulation based learning. The center offers opportunities for teaching and learning in the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains for undergraduate and graduate students.

The NSTC has two main learning environments. Located on the fifth floor of the SON are the Clinical Learning/ Hospital and IV Skills Lab, and five simulation labs. These five simulation labs along with two simulation labs and two debriefing rooms located on the second floor comprise the Simulation Center (SC).

Faculty and Staff
The Nursing Skills and Technology Center (NSTC) faculty and staff provide supportive services to faculty and students. With input from the School of Nursing faculty, the NSTC faculty identifies resources appropriate to support and enhance the curriculum and meet specified outcomes for all students. Some of the activities that the NSTC faculty and staff assist with, include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Provides a formal orientation to the use of the NSTC for new students in the School of Nursing.
• Provides guidance and instruction for students.
• Acts as a resource for both faculty and students.
• Acts as a liaison between the NSTC and individual courses in the curriculum.
• Maintains learning equipment and supplies.
• Assembles needed resources (i.e. equipment, supplies).
• Sets-up NSTC lab experiences.
• Sets-up SC experiences.
• Facilitates SC experiences.

Instructional Media
Students participate in independent learning using instructional media. Instructional media include resources are available via a link on the NSTC webpage.

Hospital and IV Skills Laboratories
The learning of nursing skills, an essential part of the undergraduate and graduate curriculum, occurs in several laboratories available for students to practice basic and advanced nursing skills during faculty supervised classes/demonstrations and independent practice time. Students can practice in the fifteen-bed hospital laboratory with each unit consisting of an hospital bed, bedside table, over bed table, bedside chair, hand washing facilities, and privacy curtains. This lab also includes functional head walls with suction and “oxygen”, as well as a heart monitor, emergency and traditional medicine carts. A smaller laboratory provides flexible space for a variety of basic and advances lab experiences for both individual and small group instruction. The NSTC contains the latest professional practice materials and models.

The Simulation Center
The Simulation Center supports undergraduate and graduate student learning outcomes. High-fidelity simulators include two METI Man Pre-hospital models; one METI Man Nursing model; one Human Patient Simulator (HPS) Pediatric; one Pediatric HAL; Noelle with newborn; and Newborn HAL. These simulators are located on the 5th floor of the SON. One high-fidelity Human Patient Simulator (HPS) Adult; one Lucina with newborn; and Luna Baby simulator are located on the 2nd floor of the SON. Anesthesia systems complete with medical gases and patient monitors compliment the HPS simulators for reality-based instruction and practice. The 2nd floor is equipped with recording equipment which can be used for real time-shared learning and for future reference.

Additional Services
Additional services offered by the center include a secured testing area for students, including those students with special accommodations in all testing situations. All students have access to models, posters for patient teaching, and specialized equipment such as vision screeners and audiometers for health screening in the community setting. There is a small group workroom available to students upon request and availability. A student lounge is available for breaks and an additional study area. The Information Technology (IT) Staff is responsible for all aspects of computer-based testing and assists the NSTC faculty and staff with computer related issues.

Simulation Center Accreditation
New Orleans, LA - The Simulation Center of the Nursing Skills and Technology Center at LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing received 5-year accreditation in Teaching/Education from the Society for Simulation in Healthcare.

The Society evaluated the Center against seven core standards: Mission & Governance, Program Management, Resource Management, Human Resources, Program Improvement, Integrity, and Expanding the Field. LSU Health New Orleans' Nursing Simulation Center was commended in all areas.

LSU Health New Orleans' Nursing Simulation Center was also commended for four teaching/education standards: Learning Activities, Educational Activity Design, Qualified Educators, and Evaluation & Improvement.

“We are the first simulation center in Louisiana to receive this accreditation,” notes Alison Davis, PhD, RN, CHSE, Assistant Professor of Nursing and Director of Nursing Skills & Technology Center at LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing.

The Simulation Center at LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing includes seven simulation labs on two floors, along with debriefing rooms. High-fidelity simulators include two METI Man Pre-hospital models; one METI Man Nursing model; one Human Patient Simulator (HPS) Pediatric; one Pediatric HAL; Noelle with newborn; and Newborn HAL. These simulators are located on the 5th floor of the SON. One high-fidelity Human Patient Simulator (HPS) Adult; one Lucina with newborn; and Luna Baby simulator are located on the 2nd floor of the SON. Anesthesia systems complete with medical gases and patient monitors compliment the HPS simulators for reality-based instruction and practice. These are also equipped with recording equipment, which can be used for real time-shared learning for future reference.

The Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH) is a non-profit membership society committed to furthering and supporting the science of healthcare simulation. SSH helps educators, healthcare providers, researchers, administrators, curriculum developers, technologists, and policy makers keep up to date with developments in the rapidly changing world of simulation-based education in healthcare. Among its activities, SSH accredits simulation programs and certifies simulation professionals.

The School of Nursing at LSU Health New Orleans is the only nursing school in Louisiana within an academic health sciences center.