Healthcare industry and UH Manoa create Hawaii Nursing Simulation Center

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Martha Hanson, (808) 956-3716
AVP Communications, University of Hawaii Foundation
Posted: Dec 21, 2009

Hawaii healthcare leaders joined together to support new simulation center at UH Manoa's SONDH
Hawaii healthcare leaders joined together to support new simulation center at UH Manoa's SONDH
HONOLULU – In the spirit of the season, four of Hawai‘i’s healthcare industry leaders joined officials and students at UH Mānoa’s School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene (SONDH) today to celebrate $1,050,000 in initial gifts to support the development of the Hawai‘i Nursing Simulation Center at Webster Hall.
 
At this celebration, healthcare leaders presented a check totaling $1.05 million, representing their four recent gifts made in support of the planned simulation center. Hawai‘i Medical Service Association (HMSA) Foundation made a $500,000 gift; Hawai‘i Pacific Health contributed $250,000; Kaiser Permanente Hawai‘i contributed $50,000; and the Queen’s Medical Center contributed an additional $250,000 for a total of $1,050,000 in gifts to the Hawai‘i Nursing Simulation Center Fund. The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa is providing space and facilitating the creation of this shared community resource.
 
“We are truly grateful to our healthcare providers for investing in this new simulation center at the UH Mānoa nursing school. Private support provides the margin of excellence at this university–this project promotes excellence in healthcare education. This investment will improve the lives of many people across Hawai‘i,” said UH Mānoa Chancellor Virginia S.Hinshaw
 
These gifts will support designing and planning the transformation of the existing training spaces into a 7,000 sq. ft. facility equipped to serve as a statewide resource and address the ongoing need for nursing clinical and workforce education. Using state-of-the-art technology and high-speed technology, the Center will increase the professional nurse’s ability to ensure patient safety; build advanced technical skills; and develop decision-making abilities of nurses and healthcare providers. The Center will serve all islands and ink the existing simulation labs of the UH Statewide Nursing Consortium and hospitals throughout the state. Dean Mary Boland noted, “Nurses are the primary providers of hospital patient care, and deliver most of the nation’s long-term and community-based care. These historic gifts signify that quality healthcare requires strong partnership between education and industry. UH Mānoa nursing is delighted to collaborate with the leading Hawai‘i healthcare organizations to create this first-of-its-kind center to assure patient safety and quality care delivery through technology-driven education.”
 
The Center will simulate the continuum of clinical settings, and will be equipped with human patient simulators, bedside computers, digitalized video recording capacity and interactive instructional software. The Center will feature realistic practice settings, including the medical-surgical hospital unit, critical care, surgical/operating suite, pediatrics, neonatal nursery, maternity, ambulatory and home care.
 
"The UH Foundation is looking forward to building on this promising start for this critical community enrichment project. In today's economy, private/public partnerships like this are essential to addressing the pressing challenges we face, and providing solutions for tomorrow,” said Donna Vuchinich, president, UH Foundation.

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The School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene supports the mission of the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa: to provide an innovative, caring and multicultural environment in which faculty, students and staff work together to generate and transmit knowledge, wisdom, and values to promote quality of life and health for present and future generations. To reflect Hawai‘i’s unique cultural diversity and heritage, the SONDH is committed to increasing Native Hawaiian and other underserved people in all nursing and dental hygiene programs.
 
The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa serves approximately 20,000 students pursuing 225 different degrees. Coming from every Hawaiian island, every state in the nation, and more than 100 countries, UH Mānoa students matriculate in an enriching environment for the global exchange of ideas. For more information, visit www.manoa.hawaii.edu.
 
The University of Hawai‘i Foundation, a nonprofit organization, raises private funds to support the University of Hawai‘i System. Our mission is to unite our donors’ passions with the University of Hawai‘i’s aspirations to benefit the people of Hawai‘i and beyond. We do this by raising private philanthropic support, managing private investments and nurturing donor and alumni relationships. Please visit www.uhf.hawaii.edu.
 
The HMSA Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-exempt private charitable organization founded in Hawai‘i’s in 1986 to stimulate research on pressing issues that confront Hawai‘i’s healthcare industry. The mission of the HMSA Foundation is to extend HMSA’s commitment to provide community access to cost-effective healthcare services, promote health, provide health education and relevant research, and improve social welfare in Hawai‘i’s. Since 1998, the HMSA Foundation has committed nearly $15 million to strategic community investment projects in four program areas: improving access to affordable health care, health promotion and disease prevention, the health care delivery system and general social welfare. Projects addressed areas such as childhood obesity, the nursing shortage, mental health, substance abuse, the elderly population, chronic disease management, quality of health care for fragile children, patient safety and health care access for the uninsured. HMSA Foundation monies are drawn on the interest from an initial endowment; grant monies do not come from health plan dues paid to HMSA. For more information, visit www.hmsafoundation.org.
 
Hawai‘i Pacific Health is a nonprofit healthcare system and the state’s largest healthcare provider, committed to providing the highest quality medical care and service to the people of Hawai‘i and the Pacific Region through its four affiliated hospitals, 44 outpatient clinics and more than 2,200 physicians and clinicians. The network is anchored by its four nonprofit hospitals: Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women & Children, Kapi‘olani Medical Center at Pali Momi, Straub Clinic & Hospital and Wilcox Memorial Hospital. Hawai‘i Pacific Health is widely known for leading edge care in the areas of women’s health, pediatrics, cancer, cardiology, and bone and joint. Hawai‘i Pacific Health hospitals rank among the top 3.7 percent of hospitals nationwide in electronic medical record adoption, with system-wide implementation that allows its hospitals to offer integrated, coordinated care throughout the state. Learn more at: www.hawaiipacifichealth.org.
 
The Queen’s Medical Center (QMC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, acute care medical facility accredited by The Joint Commission. The facility houses 505 acute beds and 28 sub-acute beds and is widely known for its programs in cancer, cardiovascular disease, neuroscience, orthopedics, surgery, emergency medicine and trauma, and behavioral medicine. Queen's has achieved Magnet® status - the highest institutional honor for hospital excellence - from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Magnet recognition is held by less than five percent of hospitals in the United States. Queen's is the first hospital in Hawai'i to achieve Magnet status. For more information, visit www.queensmedicalcenter.net.
 
Kaiser Permanente Hawai‘i has provided total health to the people of Hawai‘i for more than 50 years. Today it has the largest medical group with over 400 physicians supported by 4,400 nurses and staff. Care for members is focused on their total health guided by our personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert care and medical teams are supported by industryleading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. Visit www.kp.org for additional information.