University of the Pacific is celebrating the completion of its state-of-the-art clinical skills and simulation center for its new Entry Level Master of Science in Nursing program with a ribbon cutting March 29. 

The event will be held on the Sacramento Campus at 10:30 a.m. It will include demonstrations and tours of the new facility as well as three other healthcare programs recently launched in Pacific’s School of Health Sciences to meet the growing need for healthcare providers in the community:

•    Master of Social Work, which prepares students to work in the health care field with a focus on diabetes management;
•    Master of Science in Clinical Nutrition, the first Future Education Model in California, which integrates coursework with supervised experiential learning; and
•    Doctor of Occupational Therapy, a 32-month accelerated program using a biopsychosocial model and designed to meet the diverse needs of the community. 

“All are graduate programs, preparing students for rewarding and in-demand careers in healthcare,” said School of Health Sciences Dean Nicoleta Bugnariu. “The school is a leader in interprofessional education, preparing students to learn with and from each other, and work effectively in teams for the benefit of patients.”  

The innovative, two-year nursing program prepares bachelor’s degree students—with or without a background in health care—to earn a master’s in nursing and a public health certificate.

The nursing suites, located on the second floor of the campus library, include: a skills laboratory, simulation laboratory, two large state-of-the-art classrooms, a conference/debriefing room and office space.

The simulation lab will have three high-fidelity mannikins that will allow students to work through different scenarios.

“When you’re in a clinic, you’re at the mercy of whatever patients are in the hospital at the time. Here we can guarantee, ‘you're going to get a fresh myocardial infarction, or heart attack, you're going to get someone with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, you're going to get a child with asthma,’ explained Holly Evans Madison, chair of the nursing program. “It's going to be a great learning opportunity for our students to have that kind of experience.”

The program was launched to help overcome a statewide nursing shortage. A recent report by the University of California San Francisco Health Workforce Research Center on Long-Term Care found California has a current shortage of more than 40,000 registered nurses.

Pacific’s first nursing cohort begins in April with 40 students. Applications for the next cohort open May 1 with classes starting in January. 

Home of the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry on its San Francisco Campus and the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy on its Stockton Campus, Pacific has a renowned reputation for educating health care professionals. Other programs in the School of Health Sciences include:

•    Sacramento Campus: Physician Assistant 
•    Stockton Campus: Athletic Training, Physical Therapy and Speech-Language Pathology 
•    San Francisco Campus: Audiology 

The school is also launching an online program for working health science clinicians and educators to earn Doctor of Medical Science and Doctor of Health Sciences degrees.