Promoting Collaboration in Nursing Education: The Development of a Regional Simulation Laboratory

This article describes a collaboratively developed plan for a regional patient simulation laboratory for nursing education. The Western North Carolina Regional Simulation Laboratory will be located at the Enka Campus of the Asheville–Buncombe Technical Community College at the Department of Nursing of Western Carolina University (Candler, NC).A proactive collaborative consortium has been established to help meet the demand for nursing education in the 13 most rural mountain counties of western North Carolina. Through a 2-year process with regional networking, the nursing administration of Western Carolina University, Mission Hospitals, Asheville–Buncombe Technical Community College, and affiliated community colleges, consortium hospitals, and emergency care services developed a vision and a proposal for an innovative program for the nursing education of the future.The consortium proposed the establishment of a 3-year integrated educational program utilizing state-of-the-art simulation manikin technology. Financial resources were obtained from a charitable grant from The Duke Endowment (Charlotte, NC). Sustainability of funding will be ensured through university, hospital, and community college collaboration.