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The Society for Simulation in Healthcare has accredited Rhode Island College’s Simulation Center and Nursing Resource Laboratory in the area of Teaching and Education, making RIC and Yale University the only two accredited simulation centers in New England.

Simulation laboratories are used to create clinical scenarios to which nursing students must react in real time. Standing in for patients are realistic manikins with lifelike pulses, respiration and bowel sounds; some can even respond to light and sound.

The RIC School of Nursing has two high-fidelity simulation rooms with embedded cameras that allow for playback in a debriefing room. RIC also has a pediatric lab with baby, toddler and child manikins. Much of the simulation equipment was made possible through a previous grant from the Health Resources and Services Association.

“This accreditation validates the outstanding simulation program at the RIC School of Nursing and could not have occurred without the proven expertise of a faculty and staff who have mastered the technology and the teaching skills to support the program,” said Dean of the School of Nursing Jane Williams.

Penni Sadlon, RIC nursing resource lab coordinator, said, “Students consistently rate simulation training as one of their favorite parts of the program.” She added that RIC runs more than 150 simulations for graduate and undergraduate students each year.

At present, the Society for Simulation has accredited 38 simulation centers in the U.S.,16 of which were accredited in 2014. Sadlon will travel to New Orleans later this month to accept the accreditation certificate during the annual International Meeting for Simulation in Healthcare.

RIC has more than 540 students enrolled in its Bachelor of Science in Nursing program and approximately 80 students enrolled in its Master of Science in Nursing program.

The college also offers a Nursing Care Management Certificate of Graduate Studies.

Earlier this fall, RIC School of Nursing learned that its students’ latest pass rate on the NCLEX-RN, the national licensure exam for registered nurses, was 91.5 percent ­ nearly nine percentage points higher than the national average of 82.9 percent. Dean Williams attributed RIC’s high performance to the rigor of the nursing curriculum and the supportive environment created by the nursing faculty.