An Innovative Approach to Staffing a Simulation Center in a College of Health Professions.

Background: The current limited number of nurse faculty and available clinical sites requires innovative strategies to provide education to current and future nurses. Simulation centers and clinical education laboratories can meet this need, but staffing issues can be problematic.

Method: This article describes how an urban university developed a cost-effective model to staff its clinical education laboratory. After two faculty members proposed a pilot program to fully integrate simulation into both the accelerated and traditional undergraduate nursing programs on two campuses, a need was identified for more nursing staff dedicated to the simulation program.

Results: Knowing that many recent nurse graduates were available while waiting to obtain their first nursing position, these new nurses were recruited to serve in a volunteer capacity, supporting nursing faculty in the simulation program.

Conclusion: The new nurse graduate volunteer position quickly evolved into a paid nurse intern position and has proven to benefit students, faculty, and new nurse graduates.