The Health and Public Services Department of Macomb Community College is introducing its new mobile simulation unit to train nurses, medical assistants, phlebotomists, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, and nurse assistants.
Macomb Community College’s Health and Public Services Department has a new mobile simulation unit: a 38-foot RV that serves as a moveable classroom to bring training simulations to healthcare workers, including nurses, medical assistants, phlebotomists, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, and nurse assistants. The mobile classrooms will help reduce barriers to training for healthcare workers, and will be able to visit career fairs, community centers, community events, and high schools.
According to an article on Macomb Community College’s website, Narine Mirijanian, who serves as the dean of the college’s Health and Public Services Department, was quoted as saying of the benefits of the mobile simulation unit, “Employers told us they needed training brought directly to their workplaces, and this mobile unit is our response. It allows us to deliver the same high-quality, hands-on training we offer on campus while removing barriers related to time, travel and staffing.”
The college received a federal grant in the amount of $2.6 million to help support the introduction of healthcare apprenticeships to students and local employers. The mobile simulation unit was funded through $459,932 of that federal grant. The mobile simulation unit is able to be brought to where training is needed, able to respond to hiring surges in the healthcare field.
The mobile simulation unit includes equipment to teach vital signs, phlebotomy chairs, a hospital bed, examination table, a gurney, and a wheelchair, fully equipped to train individuals on skills like phlebotomy, IV insertion, wound care, EKGs, vital sign assessment, CPR, and basic life support.
Amy Jury, the director of Apprentice and Business Partnerships in the college’s Health and Public Services Department, said, “The key benefit of a mobile training unit is its ability to accelerate workforce development. It allows us to bring instructors, equipment and training directly to employers or communities, eliminating delays and barriers that often come with fixed-site programs.”
For more information about Macomb Community College, visit the school’s website.