10/10/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/10/2025 13:21
Thanks in part to a $500,000 grant from the Regina Charitable Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation, doctoral nurse anesthesia students in La Salle's School of Nursing and Health Sciences gain hands-on experience in a cutting-edge on-campus simulation lab. This controlled environment allows students to practice a full range of anesthesia procedures-including emergency scenarios-safely and repeatedly, helping them build both technical skills and confidence before entering clinical practice and throughout their entire education at La Salle. Here's a look at some of the most important pieces of equipment in the lab, explained by Nicole Irick, DNP, CRNA, assistant director of the nurse anesthesia program.
These enable students to develop the skills needed to perform these regional anesthetic procedures. Students practice different techniques-a single injection and the placement of a catheter for continuous or repeated dosing.
One of two anesthesia machines in the lab that allows students to get hands-on experience with different models. They're essential in creating a realistic operating room environment.
The carts serve as mobile workstations which store and organize medications, supplies, and equipment required for anesthesia delivery.
Operated by instructors in the control room, they display real-time vital signs and patient data. These respond to student interventions during simulations, mimicking an actual clinical situation.
The high-fidelity mannequin, aka Sim Man, mimics a real human patient by blinking, breathing, and speaking. Students use the model to perform the full scope of anesthesia care-from preoperative conversations to emergence from general anesthesia-all while responding to dynamic clinical scenarios.
The tool used for endotracheal intubation, where a breathing tube is inserted into the trachea, is an essential technique for nurse anesthetists, especially in difficult airway scenarios.