Being able to practice on SimMan helps prepare nursing students for real-life situations.

"If they get to the point where they don't get it, in some of the scenarios, he'll stop breathing. His heart rate will stop and they're looking at him like, 'Oh no, we killed him.' But part of this is we don't want this to happen with a real person," Keihn said.

The $30,000 price tag of each of the simulated patients can be a deterrent for nursing programs.

"When you're looking at the budgets for schools of nursing that can be a limiting factor in being able to purchase these high fidelity simulators," Siktberg said.

However, she believes that recruiting nursing students has become easier due to the technology the school has to offer.

http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/businessofhealth.asp?id=124