In a classroom at Ball State University's School of Nursing, a patient is in trouble.

He has told the nursing student who is attending to him that he is having trouble breathing. By looking at his monitor, she can see that he is going downhill fast and is at risk of dying. While she clearly is concerned, she remains calm and focused. By taking the correct course of action, the student stabilizes the patient, and his vitals return to normal. SimMan will live another day.

SimMan and SimBaby are the newest additions to Ball State's high-tech equipment that's available to students. They are life-like, high-fidelity simulators with rubbery skin, pulse points, chests that swell with each breath and replaceable skin that allow students to practice IVs.

"During our scenarios, SimMan and SimBaby will continually get worse and die if they receive no treatment; the idea is to get students to help them," said Linda Siktberg, director of the School of Nursing. "Students will see firsthand the satisfaction of making right decisions and the consequences of making wrong ones."

SimMan can talk, cough and cry out in pain. His tongue can swell, his bowels make noise and he can exhibit a number of ailments, such as congestive heart failure. While SimBaby can't talk, it can also simulate a number of illnesses, such as pneumonia.

"SimBaby's lips will turn blue if it's having trouble breathing," said Kay Hodson Carlton, coordinator of educational resources and extended education. "Seeing that the baby is having breathing trouble could signal a number of ailments that our students will need to address."

With the simulators, students will be able to practice taking blood pressure, checking pulse rates, inserting feeding tubes and catheters, and using defibrillators. Repeated practice will prepare students to assist actual patients, Carlton added.

Six new hospital rooms and two new clinical rooms give the School of Nursing an additional high-tech dimension. These realistic settings have actual hospital beds, monitors and a private environment for students to build their confidence in a practical setting, Siktberg said.

"These classrooms are as close to actual hospital rooms as you can get," she said. "The students can demonstrate their competencies with one faculty member, which allows them to show off what they've learned in a relaxed, one-on-one setting, yet become quite familiar to the setting that they'll soon be working in."

Offering such high-tech advances enhances an already successful program. The School of Nursing's enrollment has grown steadily each of the last three years, and each year nearly 100 percent of the school's graduates pass the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN). Ball State had a 96 percent pass rate at the last NCLEX-RN.

"We are continually looking to improve our school and to help fight the critical shortage of nurses in the United States and the world," Siktberg said. "By giving our students access to the latest technological advances and giving them the skills necessary to pass the licensure exam, they will have a career for life."

(Note to editors: For more information, contact Siktberg at (765) 285-8718 or lsiktber@bsu.edu.)