On Tuesday, September 30, Elmhurst College and Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare will host an open house to celebrate the grand opening of a state-of-the-art simulation laboratory and classroom space located within Elmhurst Memorial Hospital.

The Elmhurst College Simulation Center at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital is a 4,600-square-foot facility that serves nursing students and hospital staff and is available as well to first responders and other health care providers from around the region. The Simulation Center welcomed its first classes of undergraduate and graduate nursing students in August.

The open house for the Elmhurst College Simulation Center at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital will run from 7:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 30, at the Simulation Center, on the lower level of Elmhurst Memorial Hospital (155 East Brush Hill Road, Elmhurst). Visitors should park in the Green Lot and use the East Entrance and elevators to get to the lower level. The event is free, and the public is invited.

During the open house, guests can tour the Simulation Center’s “health care environments,” built and equipped to resemble inpatient, outpatient and community settings. In the simulation labs, students practice health care scenarios with the College’s life-size, robotic simulated patients. From the control room, simulation directors can reprogram a simulated patient’s medical condition without the students’ knowledge, creating realistic exercises. The home care lab enables students to practice conducting a well-baby visit or adapting a home for someone learning to live with a disability. An observation room and cameras enable students to view simulation exercises remotely, not only from screens in the observation room but also on their cell phones and laptops, as well as in classrooms on the Elmhurst College campus.

The result of an innovative collaboration between Elmhurst College and Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare, the Simulation Center is the only such facility in the region to have been established through this kind of health care/higher education partnership.

The nursing program at Elmhurst College received accreditation in 1975, making it the first accredited baccalaureate nursing program in DuPage County. The Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Master of Science in Nursing degree programs are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).

The first class of Nursing Master’s Entry students enrolled in the fall of 2014. This new program enables individuals with a bachelor’s degree in another field to study nursing in an accelerated manner. Upon successful completion of this program, graduates are awarded a master’s degree in nursing and are eligible for licensure as a registered professional nurse (RN) and Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) certification.

The Department of Nursing at Elmhurst College is a member of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN).