The University has officially opened its new $40 million North Haven Campus.
Students in the physician assistant, nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, diagnostic imaging and radiologist assistant programs will attend classes in the first of four buildings Quinnipiac purchased from Anthem for $39.6 million in 2007.
In addition, MBA students from the School of Business and master of arts in teaching students from the School of Education also will take some of their classes in the four-story facility.
"This facility has the best equipment available on the market today to teach students in our School of Health Sciences programs," said Edward O'Connor, dean of the School of Health Sciences. "I think you will be hard pressed to find another university in the country that has facilities that rival this one."
The 180,000-square-foot building, which is wireless, features 12 classrooms, 16 seminar and team-study rooms, and 24 teaching laboratories, including an orthopedics lab, a rehabilitative sciences lab, a clinical skills lab, an intensive care unit, a health assessment lab, a physical exam suite, a physical diagnostics lab, a motion analysis lab and other special amenities that set it apart from other universities offering health sciences programs.
For example, students will spend time learning in a state-of-the-art model apartment, where they will train to teach patients how they can live at home independently. The apartment includes a Hoyer®lift that helps a patient move from the toilet, shower and bathtub. The kitchen area has cabinets that can be moved up and down, a dishwasher that can be used by a person in a wheelchair, and a refrigerator that has lighting that has been adjusted for patients with low vision or macular degeneration.
In addition to the model apartment, occupational therapy students also have a driving simulator that can help them determine if modifications to a car can help a client with a disability drive safely.
Students from various disciplines also will learn using SimMan®3G patient simulators, and infant SimMan® patient simulators. On these mannequins, students can practice everything from taking a pulse and inserting an IV line to reviving a patient. In some of the examination areas, professors can stand behind a one-way mirror, project their voices through the mannequins, and describe symptoms to help the students determine what medical conditions they have.
The physical therapy department's new equipment includes the Biodex Balance System, which assesses neuromuscular control. Also, students take courses in laboratories where the desks can be easily converted into examination tables.
"We stress interdisciplinary learning in the School of Health Sciences," O'Connor said. "Today, health care focuses on the team approach. We want to initiate that philosophy during the educational process."
The first floor of the building has been transformed into a cafeteria with nearly 600 seats. A bookstore and library are also located on the first floor.
The first floor also will be home to the Digital Imaging Center, which will have MRI and CT Scan equipment. The Digital Imaging Center will open later in the Fall 2009 semester.