Indiana State University Newsroom

An Indiana State University nursing faculty member is one of 20 educators chosen to participate in a national leadership development program.

Deborah Bartnick, interim director of the Continuing Nursing Education Program, is a part of the National League for Nursing's Leadership Development Program for Simulation Education. The year-long project is designed for simulation educators who want to assume leadership positions in the field.

Simulation education involves the use of high-tech mannequins to provide nursing students a practical learning experience. Three simulators are housed at Landsbaum Center for Health Education, a joint facility of Indiana State, Indiana University's School of Medicine and Union Hospital's Richard G. Lugar Center for Rural Health. Two of the simulators represent an expectant mother capable of giving birth and a newborn.

Bartnick and the other educators were chosen from a field of more than 140 applicants.

"It's the next step for me," Bartnick said, adding that she hopes to apply her knowledge to implement a new simulation center in conjunction with the Rural Health Innovation Collaborative.

The collaborative combines the resources and strategies of several Wabash Valley institutions with the goal of expanding and improving area health care and redeveloping the Terre Haute neighborhood that lies between the Indiana State campus and Union Hospital. Members of the collaborative include ISU, the IU School of Medicine, Lugar Center , Ivy Tech Community College-Wabash Valley, Vermillion- Parke Community Health Center, Terre Haute Economic Development Corp. and City of Terre Haute.

Bartnick said the goal of the simulation center is to "foster improved clinical skills and to provide effective, safe patient care."

Esther Acree, chair of the baccalaureate nursing completion department and associate professor of nursing, said Bartnick's participation in the program will ultimately benefit student success.

"This is just a dream come true for all of us," Acree said.

Photo: http://isuphoto.smugmug.com/photos/685798844_cfEmD-S.jpg

Contact: Deborah Bartnick, interim director, Continuing Nursing Education Program; College of Nursing, Health and Human Services, Indiana State University, 812-237-3695 or Deborah.Bartnick@indstate.edu; Esther Acree, chair, Baccalaureate Nursing Completion Department and associate professor of nursing; College of Nursing, Health and Human Services, Indiana University, 812-237-2320 or Esther.Acree@indstate.edu

Writer: Nick Hedrick, media relations assistant, Indiana State University, Communications and Marketing, 812-237-3773 or nhedrick2@indstate.edu