New Mexico State University’s School of Nursing has completed significant renovations to its Skills and Simulation Center, located in the Health and Social Services Building. The center, which originally opened in 2004, received its first major update following funding from general obligation bonds approved by New Mexico voters in 2022. The bonds provided $51.1 million to NMSU for construction and modernization projects, with $2 million allocated specifically for the nursing center’s expansion and improvements.
“This investment allowed us to make much-needed updates and improvements to the Skills and Simulation Center that will not only benefit our programs and students but also help grow the nursing workforce in New Mexico,” said Alexa Doig, director of the School of Nursing.
The upgraded facility now includes four large skills rooms with new static mannequins, three simulation areas featuring six high-fidelity human patient simulators, three conference rooms, and two control rooms equipped with paging microphones, voice modulators, and pan-tilt-zoom cameras. The center is designed to resemble a modern hospital, with working medical beds, stretchers, simulated oxygen machines, and other hospital equipment. Additional features include a new laundry area and a dedicated simulation operating room for the nursing anesthesiology program.
Students began using the renovated center during the spring 2025 semester. Paola Martinez, a student who started the Bachelor of Nursing program in 2021, noted the impact of the new technology. “I see a lot of the technology is more advanced,” Martinez said, “and that will help simulate what it’s like to be in a real hospital.”
Martinez also highlighted the value of practicing with baby and maternal mannequins. “Just the other day, I met with my clinical group, and we got to use the baby mannequins and practiced swaddling them,” she said. “We also worked with the maternal mannequins, which gave us a better picture of what our teacher was talking about.”
Another student, Kiara Keoho, described how the updated space supports different learning styles. “Some students can process information as they hear it from their professors, but others need visuals or hands-on practice,” Keoho said. “I need hands-on practice – so this facility has really helped me. My professors can tell me something and then back it up by demonstrating it on a mannequin with actual hospital equipment.”
Martinez, who served as president of the NMSU Student Nurses Association, believes the center will better prepare students for clinical rotations and may attract more applicants to the program. “I hope potential nursing students see this updated facility and are more encouraged to apply to this program over others,” she said.
More information is available in the fall 2025 edition of Pinnacle Magazine at https://pinnacle.nmsu.edu/.
