“Someday, someone will trust us with their life, and we want to be ready.”
That’s how Ariana Sawyer, an undergraduate student at the University of South Florida’s College of Nursing, described the goal of the school’s newly expanded facility on the Tampa campus.
USF Health held a ribbon-cutting on the expansion Friday, adding 42,000 square feet of modern classrooms, clinical training space and simulation facilities as it works to increase the number of nurses it trains.
The three-story addition, paid for by $33 million in state money, is designed to help USF graduate an additional 500 undergraduate nursing students by 2028. The college, which enrolls nearly 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students, says it is on track to exceed that goal.
"I have to say, 32 years ago when I was going to school, we didn't have any of these. We practiced injections on orange peel."Usha Menon, dean of the USF Health College of Nursing
It was glorious to cut the ribbon," Usha Menon, dean of the nursing school, told host Matthew Peddie on WUSF's "Florida Matters Live & Local." "For about three years now, every day when I walked in, I would see a little bit more progress on the building. Just very exciting for us."
There is a sense of urgency involved.
Florida is projected to face a shortage of nearly 20,000 registered nurses over the next decade, Menon said. The Florida Hospital Association predicts overall nursing vacancies will top 50,000 over that period. The problem became exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led burned-out nurses to leave the profession en masse.
"It is very serious," Menon said. "I think it's sort of gone out of people's minds because we don't hear a lot of talk about (needing) travel nurses (to fill in) and beds not being available, but the shortage is alive and well."
That need underscores the importance of the building expansion and the added instructional tools now available, she said.
"It's the place where students get to practice their skills. It's the place where they get to make mistakes. It's the place where they gain confidence around these skills before they actually go into a hospital setting or a clinic setting and touch a live person," the dean said.
For students, one of the biggest additions is a modern nursing simulation center, created with a $4.4 million investment from USF academic partner Tampa General Hospital. The center gives students a place to practice clinical skills before they enter real patient-care settings.
ALSO READ: Tampa General Hospital invests $4.4 million in new training lab for USF College of Nursing
"We have multiple scenarios built out, and sometimes we actually have standardized patients that come in that are given a script to do this," Menon said. "So, it's very complex, and we really just didn't have the space to be able to do this for our students, especially with the additional 500 that we're planning to graduate."
The first floor includes 12 clinical examination rooms, six high-fidelity simulation rooms, six control rooms, four simulation learning labs, six debriefing classrooms and a multipurpose learning lab. Students can practice taking vital signs, communicating with patients, administering medications and identifying sepsis in a controlled environment.
There are static mannequins for basic skills, like taking blood pressure readings or how to move patients on a bed. But the high-fidelity simulation rooms have extremely expensive mannequins that are computerized.
These dummies are no dummies. They talk, show symptoms and their eyes follow students around the room, Menon said. There is one that "gives birth." Another, named "Hal," is for pediatrics.
"So these are real life-like simulations that are allowing students to be able to practice and learn," Menon said.
The simulation rooms can be used to recreate clinical situations while instructors monitor and control the scenarios from separate rooms. Students can then review their performance in the debriefing classrooms.
“We’ll have places where we can come together to collaborate, and a training space where we can make mistakes, build confidence and grow before someone’s health depends on the decisions we make,” said Sawyer, who is president of the nursing school’s student council. “Because of USF, we will be ready to provide exceptional care.”
ALSO READ: USF St. Petersburg will launch a new four-year nursing program
The second floor features a classroom that can accommodate 160 students or be divided into two 80-person rooms, along with a multipurpose room, study and debriefing spaces and additional areas for students and faculty. The third floor will house research labs and is expected to be completed in January.
"I have to say, 32 years ago when I was going to school, we didn't have any of these. We practiced injections on orange peel," Menon said.
The state has also targeted another bottleneck in nursing education: faculty shortages.
The Legislature’s 2022 appropriation for construction was paired with another $6.9 million designated for faculty and staff through a program called Prepping Institutions, Programs, Employers and Learners Through Incentives for Nursing Education, or PIPELINE.
At the time, Menon said a shortage of qualified faculty was limiting enrollment. Nursing programs must maintain faculty-to-student ratios, particularly in clinical settings.
When Gov. Ron DeSantis approved the PIPELINE allocation, Menon said the funding would allow USF to hire about 40 new faculty members and 30 staff members over five years.
ALSO READ: DeSantis announces $20 million for nursing programs
Another program, Linking Industry to Nursing Education, or LINE, played a role in Tampa General’s contribution. LINE involves a dollar-for-dollar matching grant between educational institutions and healthcare providers.
TGH president and CEO John Couris said it was one of the most important investments the hospital has made.
“This simulation center gives students the opportunity to learn, practice and build confidence in an environment that mirrors the realities of clinical care, so they are better prepared to step into the moments that matter most for patients and families,” Couris said.
The expansion is part of a broader state effort to increase nursing education capacity. DeSantis has awarded more than $485 million through the PIPELINE and LINE nursing programs since 2022, supporting nursing education, faculty recruitment and other efforts to grow the workforce.
For Menon, the building represents opportunity, growth and a commitment to meeting one of Florida’s greatest healthcare needs.
"What is so rewarding for me, though, is having to seek healthcare in the Tampa Bay area, and then realize that my mom's surgery was happening, and the nurse anesthesiologist was a USF graduate from 2016," she said. "That's the stuff that's so exciting for us because we get to see impact immediately."
