Albany State University opens New Health Sciences Simulation Facility

ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - Albany State University is doing its part to combat Georgia’s nursing shortage.

The college cut the ribbon on its new health Sciences Simulation Facility on Wednesday, July 10. The new facility will welcome over 400 new nursing students in the fall.

This facility’s resources go beyond the capabilities that many South Georgia colleges have with it’s hands-on simulation labs. The Facility has several patient simulators that replicate various healthcare emergencies. AI and instructors can use simulated patients that can replicate everything from breathing issues, CPR situations with realistic patient feedback, cardiovascular issues and more.

They can even talk and tell the nursing student how they feel. This helps students better understand the care their patient needs.

“Every job is evolutionary,” Sunny Perdue, the chancellor of the University System of Georgia said. “Healthcare is not what it was 10 years ago, 20 years ago. We have modern technology, with all this kind of equipment that we have got to get trained on. People coming in have to have exposure. And that’s exactly what this building does.”

The shift to using more of these hands-on experiences is something college leaders say students want before they enter the workforce.

“They really want experiential learning,” Interim President for Albany State University Lawrence Drake said. “They really want to touch it, and feel it and, this gives it them an engagement that is quite frankly more advanced than any other place or school in the state of Georgia.”

Students are excited about the new facility and believe the simulations will be vital in their education. Before this facility was built, many of the students visited other colleges to work with simulators similar to this. Now, they believe other colleges come to ASU to train on these highly advanced machines.

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