Aurora University’s nursing program has received $775,000 in federal funding to obtain new state-of-the-art training technology, including simulation manikins, at a time when nurses are critically needed in the state, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, said during a visit to the school Thursday.
The funds will be used to set up two laboratory spaces, including a simulation lab that will create realistic patient care scenarios and a classroom with virtual reality that officials hope will be in place by spring 2023.
Durbin said he and fellow Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, worked to get the university’s nursing program the funding due to concerns there are not enough nurses in the state. With approximately 195,000 nurses in Illinois, Durbin said the state is still seeing a shortage at a time when the nation has an aging population.
“The pandemic took its toll and a lot of nurses were burned out by the heavy schedules and increased pressure on their families,” Durbin said. “Many contemplated retirement way sooner than they ever thought they would.”
More than 52,000 nurses plan to retire in the next five years, but less than 8,000 nursing students graduate each year, officials with Durbin’s office said.
Aurora University nursing student Rhiannon Brown said she is excited future students will be able to use the new simulation technology because it allows people to make mistakes in a safe setting and be better prepared for work in a hospital.
Brown, who is set to graduate in December, said she is passionate about working in a hospital labor and delivery unit because minorities, specifically Black women, have more complications in labor and higher morality rates.
“It is important for me to be an advocate in that setting and try to do what I can to ensure equitable health for all people,” she said.
The new manikins will be diverse in both race and body type, from infants to the elderly, and simulate real-life patients by blinking, breathing and having symptoms like a fever or their eyes turning yellow to indicate jaundice, Aurora University Dean of the College of Health and Sciences Sarah Radtke said.
One of the manikins will represent a pregnant woman and students will be able to use it to experience a simulated birth, officials said.