SEATTLE — It’s National Nurses Week and a great time to recognize the impact nurses have on their patients’ lives. Providence Swedish is celebrating nurses and highlighting their role in healthcare.
Swedish provides nurses with critical training through its state-of-the-art Simulation (SIM) Center. The purpose of the center is to educate and train the newest nurses, in addition to providing education to experienced nurses.
“There’s lots of experiences that don’t occur right away out in the real world,” said Renee Rassilyer-Bomers, chief nursing officer at Swedish. “Being able to replicate those types of scenarios in a safe place with realistic equipment is our purpose and our vision.”
New nurses get hands-on experience in a safe, supervised environment where they learn to handle emergency situations and procedures, like if someone’s heart stops or they are hemorrhaging. Simulation patients can show signs of distress, like sweating, increased or decreased pulse and varying blood pressure.
“We want to ensure our nurses are able to pick up on those cues, so we’re able to manipulate our mannequins to be able to demonstrate that,” Rassilyer-Bomers said.
The SIM Center helped train nurses throughout the COVID-19 pandemic as well.
“It was so critical for us to pivot in the moment to do learning outside of the clinical space, particularly with the influx of patients that we had,” Rassilyer-Bomers said.
Providence Swedish recognizes the importance of education and development and prioritizes mental health. Nurses have dealt with a great deal of stress and trauma recently due to factors like COVID.
“Mental health and well-being have been incredibly important, and Providence Swedish has invested a lot of money in mental health resources,” Rassilyer-Bomers said.
Respite rooms and Code Lavender, programs aimed to support nurses’ mental health, are both funded by the Swedish Foundation.
To learn more about nursing opportunities, visit the Providence Swedish website.
Sponsored by Providence Swedish.
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