WOODLAND HILLS : Pierce College Gets Grant From Kaiser

Starting in the fall, Pierce College nursing students will use interactive computer programs to test their skills on simulated patients before joining hospitals for the real thing.

About $20,000 worth of computer hardware, software and audiovisual equipment provided by a grant from Kaiser Permanente’s Woodland Hills Medical Center will come on line during the summer, said Sharon Hall, chairwoman of Pierce’s Department of Nursing and Allied Health.

“I can’t begin to describe how helpful this grant will be,” Hall said. “Our community colleges are so destitute for funding, we would probably never have gotten this without Kaiser’s support.”

The equipment will be used largely to pose hypothetical situations to the 158 students in the Pierce program, then give them several options from which to choose.

“It will allow students to track a patient throughout the emergency room, decide when to call the doctor and other situations they will see in the hospital every time they go to work,” Hall said. “It gives them the opportunity to make decisions without worrying about hurting anybody.”