Sacramento State’s division of nursing has received a $500,000 grant from the Frank M. and Gertrude R. Doyle Foundation to equip its new facilities in Folsom Hall, the former CalSTRS building.

The money is being used to help furnish clinical simulation labs, which give nursing students the opportunity to practice real-life situations before interacting with actual patients. The simulators are mannequins that talk, breathe, have heartbeats and are programmed to react to medical conditions the way a real patient would.

In addition to the simulators, computers to program the simulators, gurneys and other equipment will also be purchased to make the clinical simulation labs as complete and up-to-date as possible.

For roughly 50 years, the nursing program has been housed in El Dorado Hall, a location that was only meant to be temporary until a new building was built. It only has two simulation labs, which limits the space available to the program. Because labs are being used as storage space, equipment must to be moved out before students can begin a simulation.

Due to shortfalls in Sac State’s budget, the university has had to cut back on enrollment, offer fewer classes and put furlough days in place. These cutbacks restrict the number of students who can be enrolled in the nursing program, said Ann Stoltz, chair of the division of nursing.

The division admits 80 students per semester, and the larger facilities and the new equipment should help to increase the program’s capacity, Stoltz said.

“I have been in classes of over 300 and every one of them is a pre-nursing student. I fear when I go into those classes, those students are taking my dreams away'” said Jane Stefan, a pre-nursing student.

The Frank M. and Gertrude R. Doyle Foundation is a Nevada-based private organization started in 1977 that offers scholarships to high school students and grants to nonprofit organizations, including universities.

The Doyle Foundation had no previous relationship to Sac State or the Sacramento region, said Molly Glen, spokeswoman for the Doyle Foundation.

The Doyle Foundation has worked with universities throughout the United States, including many University of California and California State University campuses.

The University Foundation has pledged to raise $500,000 to match the money from the Doyle Foundation.

The University Foundation hopes to raise the funds within the next year, said Rebecca Thompson with the development office.

With the new facilities, the division of nursing is able to expand from two clinical simulation labs to six. With these funds, the division is able to furnish all the labs with up-to-date equipment. The nursing department has been using equipment donated by hospitals.

“Clinical simulation creates the opportunity to take a student from a stable situation to an unstable situation and professors can then rate the student’s response time rather than just their ability to memorize,” said Cinny Ryan, a professor at Sutter Center for Health Professionals.

Nursing students should be using at least one of the new simulators by this spring, but it is uncertain when the program will move completely into the new facilities in Folsom Hall.

Christine Bergholm can be reached at [email protected].