Simulation Program at the Emory Nursing Learning Center

The ENLC

The simulation program at the Emory Nursing Learning Center in Decatur, Ga. is a $20.6M expansion that includes state-of-the-art simulation and skills labs that provide experiential and immersive learning for students, faculty, and Emory Healthcare nurses. 

The ENLC

Since 1905, the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing (NHWSN) has evolved from a small training program in a fifty-bed hospital to an internationally renowned school that now enrolls more than 1,000 baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral students each year.

NHWSN has expanded its footprint and renovated 70,000-square-feet in Decatur, Ga. to become the Emory Nursing Learning Center. The $20.6M expansion includes a state-of-the-art simulation and skills labs, providing experiential and immersive learning for students, and the Emory Nursing Experience, a program for continuing professional education in partnership with Emory Healthcare Nursing.

Support for this project will help ensure that NHWSN remains a leader in nursing education.

“Our vision for the Emory Nursing Learning Center is to help meet the complex, chaotic, and quickly changing needs of patients, families, clinical settings, and health care systems that rely on nurses who can make fast-but-effective decisions, contribute to teams, communicate well and mitigate errors,” Dean Linda McCauley said. “I’m very excited to see this cutting-edge facility take shape and expand our services beyond campus and traditional sites.”

About

Welcome to the Simulation Program at the Emory Nursing Learning Center. Our mission is to lead a new reality/future for nursing education, research, practice, and lifelong learning, ultimately to advance health care delivery for individuals, families, and communities. Our vision is establishing an academic practice for simulation-based learning for nursing, interprofessional, and transdisciplinary education and collaborative practice.

The values that get us to mastering the art of creating and providing an extraordinary simulation experience are integrity, accountability, quality, communication, service orientation, and inclusivity.

The Simulation Program at the Emory Nursing Learning Center is positioned to be a leader in the use of simulation and is a state-of-the-art facility with over 70,000 square feet of teaching and learning space and ample rooms for skills attainment, structured practice, briefing, and skills assessment sessions. You can find a description of each room here.

Our Program maintains and utilizes a large collection of low-, medium-, and high-fidelity mechanical simulators that support skills attainment sessions and structured practice sessions for all core skill sets from invasive clinical skills to communication skills to team building skills. A list of manikins can be found here. A list of equipment and assets can be found here.

Tours

Resources

These links are for faculty and staff only.

An online simulation course (basic) was developed in collaboration with the Emory Nursing Experience (ENE). The Simulation Course has been reviewed for contact hours and available here.

This resource is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $499,999. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit HRSA.gov

Maxworthy, J., Epps, C., Okuda, Y., Mancini, M., & Palaganas, J. (2022). Defining Excellence in Simulation Programs. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams, Wilkins.

Levine, A., DeMaria, S., Schwartz, A., & Sim, A. (2014). The Comprehensive Textbook of Healthcare Simulation. New York: Springer Publishing.

Education

School of Nursing faculty are active in efforts to improve simulation education, research, and practice. Learn more about a handful of these studies.

An Innovative Educational Approach Integrating Simulation, Classroom, and Clinical Practice for Teaching Pediatric Nursing

Through the use of simulation, classroom lecture was matched with simulated patient scenarios. Concurrent with simulation, the instructors teaching students in the practice setting review the simulation materials for each week. In this way, clinical practice assignments are matched with simulation scenarios and lecture content.

Comparison of Virtual Simulation to Clinical Practice for Pre-licensure Nursing Students in Pediatrics

The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease) pandemic has required a transition from in-person clinical practice to virtual. This study compares the standardized assessment test scores of pre-licensure nursing students who completed their pediatric clinical practicum in person for both the clinical and simulation practice settings versus virtually.

Assessing baccalaureate nursing students’ knowledge and attitudes of social determinants of health after a health equity simulation

For nursing students, competency in population health management involves acquiring knowledge and forming attitudes about the impact of the social determinants of health (SDoH) on health equity. The purpose of this pilot study was to assess nursing students’ knowledge and attitudes about the SDoH and health equity following a focused simulation activity.

Evaluating a low-cost disaster preparedness simulation for pre-licensure nursing students

This is a report of an educational strategy to prepare nursing students to respond to disasters. The strategy includes an emergency preparedness disaster simulation (EPDS) implemented in a school of nursing simulation lab using patient simulators, task trainer mannequins, and live actors. The EPDS immerses student groups into a “tornado ravaged assisted‐living facility” where the principles of emergency preparedness can be employed.

Emory News

Recreating Reality in Simulation Spaces

More dynamic simulation technology as we know it today came from the airline industry. Pilots once sat in cardboard boxes to learn how to fly a plane safely but now they practice in high-tech cockpits fitted with virtually all the same controls as the real thing.
Read More

Featured Articles and Research

A list of faculty simulation scholarly activities may be found here.

Contact Us

Laika Steiger - SIM
Laika
Steiger
MBA, FACHE
Executive Director, Emory Nursing Learning Center
Laika Steiger - SIM

Laika Steiger, MBA, FACHE has over 17 years of healthcare operations experience and has proven expertise in managing large diverse teams and multi-million-dollar projects. She has led healthcare system implementations, large-scale training initiatives and multi-phase construction projects.

In her current role as the Associate Dean for Clinical Practice Operations and the Executive Director of the Emory Nursing Learning Center, Laika leads several areas for the School of Nursing including the Office of Clinical Affairs, Emory Nursing Experience, the Emory Nursing Professional Development Center (ENPDC), the Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nursing Education Center (WOCNEC), and the Simulation Program at the Emory Nursing Learning Center (ENLC). As the lead, Laika manages the strategic planning process, sets performance metrics and ensures financial stewardship; aligning all activities to meet the needs of the NHWSN programs. She also works collaboratively within the school and university to foster an environment of academic excellence, collaboration, diversity, equity, and inclusiveness.

Previously, Laika led the training team at WellStar Health System as it's Assistant Vice President of Organizational Learning Operations. In that role, Laika led the system's programs in Clinical Learning, Leadership Development, Technology Training, Continuing Medical Education, Patient Education and Library Services for over 20,000 team members and 2,000 physicians.

Laika has a Master’s degree in Business Administration, with a focus on Leadership, and a Bachelor's degree in Business Management. She is also a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Charlena Adams - SIM
Charlena
Adams
Simulation Technician
Charlena Adams - SIM

Charlena Adams is a Simulation Technician for the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University. She graduated from Clayton State University with an Associate Degree in Information Technology. She has more than two decades of clinical experience in various clinical settings including: inpatient, outpatient, critical care, hospice, long-term care, memory care, ambulatory care setting, inpatient dialysis, family medicine, gastro, geriatric, cardiologist, and internal medicine. She has many years of technical experience in troubleshooting, managing and storing data, maintaining computerized records and updating software, networks and servers. She is currently a Registered Medical Assistant, Phlebotomist, Certified Nursing Assistant, and a Certified Services Communications Specialist. She is currently working towards her Bachelor’s degree in Health Informatics.

Charita Gooden - SIM
Charita
Gooden
Simulation Tech
Charita Gooden - SIM

Charita Gooden has a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and a Minor in Chemistry from Voorhees University. She also has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing graduating with honors Summa Cum Laude from South Carolina State University. She comes to us from Emory Healthcare where she worked since 2007 – starting as a Unit Clerk and leaving as a Registered Certified Medical Assistant. Throughout her career, Charita has worked in many areas and specialties such as Urology, Gynecology, Medical Surgery, Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology, Vascular Surgery, Dialysis, and Cardiology.

Charita is a native of South Carolina and is a member of Chi Eta Phi Nursing Sorority Inc. She is excited to be a team member at Emory University Nursing Learning Center as a Simulation Technician and knows her skills and experience in healthcare will give her the ability to help our nursing students.

Vanity Moore - SIM
Vanity
Moore
Simulation Tech
Vanity Moore - SIM

Vanity Moore is a Simulation tech at Emory Nursing Learning Center. She comes to us with 15 years of clinical healthcare experience out of San Diego, California. She graduated from San Diego City College with an associate in health science and child development. She is currently a License Practical Nurse and has experience as a laboratory technician in Oncology.

Vanity is excited to join the university to help impact the future of simulation which benefits our future healthcare professionals. She is an advocate for the simulation experience because it aided her while in school. She became confident in her skills which allowed her to enter the field of nursing with tenacity. She joins us with determination to pay it forward.

Kevin Paproski - SIM
Kevin
Paproski
Simulation Technician
Kevin Paproski - SIM

Kevin Paproski is a simulation technician for the Emory Nursing Learning Center. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Health Services at Augusta University. His coursework gave him an overview of the U.S. healthcare system and provided the knowledge and skill development in healthcare delivery, leadership, cultural competency, bioethics, research and innovation. While at Augusta University, he completed a three-year internship at the Interdisciplinary Simulation Center. During his time at the center, he refined his interprofessional skills and technical knowledge of healthcare simulation as well as inventory management. The belief that simulation not only improves the skills and knowledge of students, but the quality of care that patients will receive is what drives Kevin to provide excellent service.

Kim Fugate - SIM
Kim
Fugate
Senior Simulation Operations Specialist
Kim Fugate - SIM

Kim Fugate is the Senior Simulation Operations Specialist for the Emory University Nursing Learning Center. In this role, Kim partners with Simulation Technicians, Simulation Nurse Educators, and faculty to develop, implement, operate, and participate in simulation activities to guarantee a high quality, safe, and consistent simulation experience in the ENLC. Kim assists in the management of the infrastructure to ensure student privacy, operational efficiency, limited downtime, and that learning objectives are met. She troubleshoots and resolves any technical and logistical issues; operates simulation capture system to ensure activities are videotaped. Provides first level repairs and preventative maintenance to simulation resources; ensures equipment and supplies are used and maintained properly. Plans, develops, and manufactures materials and techniques for executing moulage and task trainers in collaboration with key players to enhance the overall realism of the simulation activity.

Kim has been working in simulation for over 18 years at Emory University. Originally working with the Dept of Surgery E*STAR lab before moving to the School of Medicine Simulation lab where she served as Associate Director of ExCEL for the last 14 years. She is a Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator (CHSE) and a Certified Healthcare Simulation Operations Specialist (CHSOS) and is a member of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare. She is also an AHA certified instructor in both BLS and ACLS.

Sandra Rosedale - SIM
Sandra
Rosedale
Simulation Nurse Educator
Sandra Rosedale - SIM

Sandra Rosedale comes to the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University with over 40 years of nursing experience. She has held a variety of roles in home care, inpatient, long-term care, assisted living and academia. Sandra is a Geriatric Clinical Nurse specialist and has always had a passion for working with the elderly. She received her BSN and MSN degrees from the University of California, San Francisco. During her academic career she has taught Fundamentals, Health Assessment, Patho/Pharmacology, Med Surg 1 and 2, Community Health, Aging Adult, and Leadership. Most of the courses had a lab component that also involved simulation. Sandra has over 15 years of simulation experience and finds it rewarding and a great safe place for the students to practice their nursing skills.

Sandra is originally from the upper Peninsula of Michigan. She has lived in Michigan, California, Tennessee, Florida, and Georgia. She has two sons and three grandchildren.

Valencia King - SIM
Valencia
King
Senior Simulation Technician
Valencia King - SIM

Valencia King is a Senior Simulation Technician for the Nell Hodgson Woodruff Simulation Program at ENLC. She has prior clinical experience as a Licensed Practical Nurse and over eight years in healthcare simulation. Most recently, she completed a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a Healthcare Management concentration. She has prior experience as a team leader overseeing the daily operations of a simulation center including scheduling, purchasing, case development, data analysis, and managing a Standardized Patient program. In her role at the Emory Nursing Learning Center, she works with faculty and staff to prepare simulation experiences for clinical courses, operates simulation equipment, monitors inventory, and provides general maintenance of the equipment.

Beth Ann Swan - SIM
Beth Ann
Swan
Charles F. and Peggy Evans Endowed Distinguished Professor in Simulation and Innovation
Beth Ann Swan - SIM

Dr. Beth Ann Swan is a Professor, Clinical Track, Associate Dean and Vice President for Academic Practice Partnerships, and Executive Director of the Emory Learning Nursing Center at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University. Dr. Swan is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, past president of the American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing (AAACN), and a Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellow. She is nationally and internationally known for her research in health care and nursing. She was an early leader in exploring the impact of changing health care delivery models on outcomes of care and has been a continuous advocate for the promotion of promoting ambulatory and primary care. Read more about Dr. Swan here.

FAQ

What’s a Rich Text element?

The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.

Static and dynamic content editing

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

How to customize formatting for each rich text

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.