A new £19m state-of-the-art nurse-training facility in Lincoln is complete and ready to welcome a new cohort of students in September.
The University of Lincoln’s Sarah Swift Building will be the new home of its Schools of Health and Social Care and Psychology.
Four impressive nurse-training labs are equipped exactly as they would be in a real hospital.
(Image: Anna Draper)
Each nursing suite and each bay can be adapted to simulate a different health scenario from an accident and emergency unit to a physiotherapy clinic.
Using various realistic medical mannequins and actual hospital equipment, the facility will allow the students to safely hone their skills and build their confidence before getting their hands on real patients. The trainee nurses can learn everything from correctly fitting feeding tubes to taking blood and getting to grips with a variety of patient-monitoring systems.
(Image: Anna Draper)
Despite the patients being only dummies, the students will still be expected to learn and follow all the normal procedures for hygiene such as cleaning bedding.
The students will spend two days every week using the nurse training wards in the new facility and the rest of the week in a real clinical setting.
(Image: Anna Draper)
Named after Lincolnshire’s Dame Sarah Swift, who was a nurse and founder of the Royal College of Nursing, half of the building will be used by the university’s School of Psychology. The new facility is sited in Brayford Wharf East.
(Image: Anna Draper)
Development Psychologist and researcher in autism at the university, Dr Niko Kargas, said that building marked a very exciting time for all involved.
He said: “I am extremely happy with the new Sarah Swift Building. It is a very inspiring place to be and work. With cutting-edge laboratories and technology, it will be a fantastic place for learning and research.”
(Image: Anna Draper)
New offices within the building will bring together academic and administrative staff under one roof, who were previously spread throughout the campus.
The modern interior has a feature staircase rising through the building opening out onto areas with circular office pods and hot desks.
(Image: Anna Draper)
As a stark contast to the lastest technology, the communal areas are decorated with medical equipment from years gone by, giving visitors a glimpse of how medicine has moved on.
The new facility can’t come soon enough for some.
The government is promising 10,000 more health care professionals in the next five years.
