Purdue University Global, CHI Health St. Elizabeth to celebrate shared state-of-the-art simulation center with ribbon-cutting ceremony

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Representatives from the Purdue University Global School of Nursing and CHI Health St. Elizabeth will celebrate their shared state-of-the-art simulation center at CHI Health St. Elizabeth Hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10:30 a.m. CT on April 28.

The Simulation Center for Innovative Excellence, which is utilized by both Purdue University Global students and CHI Health St. Elizabeth employees, was announced in September  to create a more efficient and innovative learning model.

Nursing students are immersed in skill-based activity and simulations that replicate patient scenarios. The simulations allow students to care for patients and learn within a safe environment to ultimately increase the quality of patient care and safety when they become practicing nurses.

Melissa Burdi
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“This will be an exciting day to celebrate our wonderful partnership with CHI Health St. Elizabeth,” said Melissa Burdi, Purdue University Global vice president and dean of the School of Nursing. “This amazing simulation facility enables our nursing students and health care colleagues to engage in immersive learning with a keen training focus on patient safety, high reliability and quality of care, all while fostering interprofessional collaboration during a time of great need.”

The simulation center utilizes a family of high-fidelity, Gaumard-brand manikins that include an infant, child, birthing mother and adult. The space consists of two high-fidelity simulation suites staged to mock hospital rooms with audio/video capabilities, a master control room, three rooms to hold debriefings or skills labs, as well as a nurses’ station, central supply area, medication preparation space, offices and storage space.

Additionally, the organizations are working together to create mutually beneficial interprofessional simulation experiences where multiple health care professionals can practice patient and family care together.

“The simulation lab will give staff at CHI Health St. Elizabeth the opportunity to further their skills and stay up to date on the latest training – things that are constantly evolving in the world of health care,” said Jenny Stachura, vice president of patient care services for CHI Health St. Elizabeth. “It will be an invaluable tool for our care teams and also to the future nurses and health care workers who are seeking a career in the medical field. The industry needs trained health care workers more than ever before.”

This arrangement builds on an existing partnership between Purdue University Global and CHI Health St. Elizabeth in which Purdue University Global students have completed their clinical rotation at the hospital.

About Purdue University Global

Purdue University Global delivers personalized online education tailored to the unique needs of adults who have work or life experience beyond the classroom, enabling them to develop essential academic and professional skills with the support and flexibility they need to achieve their career goals. It offers personalized paths for students to earn an associate, bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree, based on their work experience, desired pace, military service, previous college credits and other considerations – no matter where they are in their life journey. Purdue University Global is a nonprofit, public university accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. It is affiliated with Purdue University’s flagship institution, a highly ranked public research university located in West Lafayette, Indiana. Purdue University also operates regional campuses in Fort Wayne and Northwest Indiana, as well as serving science, engineering and technology students at the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) campus. For more information, visit purdueglobal.edu.

About CHI Health

CHI Health is a regional health network with a unified mission: nurturing the healing ministry of the Church while creating healthier communities. Headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, the combined organization consists of 14 hospitals, two stand-alone behavioral health facilities, more than 150 employed physician practice locations and more than 10,000 employees in Nebraska and southwestern Iowa. In fiscal 2021, CHI Health invested more than $208.7 million back into our communities. The majority of those dollars went to caring for the poor and underserved. CHI Health is part of CommonSpirit Health, a nonprofit, Catholic health system dedicated to advancing health for all people. It was created in February 2019 through the alignment of Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health. CommonSpirit Health is committed to creating healthy communities, delivering exceptional patient care, and ensuring every person has access to quality health care. With its national office in Chicago and a team of approximately 150,000 employees and 25,000 physicians and advanced practice clinicians, CommonSpirit Health operates 142 hospitals and more than 700 care sites across 21 states. In FY 2020, Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health had combined revenues of $29.6 billion and provided $4.6 billion in charity care, community benefit and unreimbursed government programs.

Media Contact, Purdue University Global: Tom Schott, tschott@purdue.edu

Media Contacts, CHI Health St. Elizabeth: Taylor Miller, taylor.barth@commonspirit.org and Molli Weeks, molli.weeks@commonspirit.org

Sources: Melissa Burdi

Jessica Manning

Jenny Stachura