The University of San Diego has completed construction of an $18 million nursing education facility.
The university's Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday to unveil the Betty and Bob Beyster Institute for Nursing Research, Advanced Practice, and Simulation.
A gift of $8 million from Betty Beyster and Dr. Robert Beyster, founder of the research and engineering firm SAIC who passed away last year, helped pay for the 30,000-square-foot facility adjacent to the existing nursing school.
The institute’s first floor will house the Lizbeth Dickinson Smoyer Nursing Simulation Center, the keystone of the school’s clinical teaching facilities. Its features include computerized mannequins and trained patient “actors,” to educate nurses, along with a video data management system for faculty to evaluate students’ judgment and clinical skills.
The second floor includes the Lizbeth and Walter Smoyer Family Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Education Center focusing on the management of preventive care and leadership of interdisciplinary teams.
The institute’s third story focuses on nursing research and houses units in veterans’ care, maternal and child care, palliative care and aging. Its research centers include the Hervey Family San Diego Foundation Military and Veteran Health Unit, the Women and Children’s Health Unit, the Kaye M. Woltman and Melisa R. McGuire Hospice and Palliative Care Education and Research Unit, and the Senior Adult Research Unit and Functional Assessment Apartment. The third floor also includes the PhD Executive Classroom and the Krause Family PhD Research Library and Study.
“We are so grateful to the Beysters and excited to present this institute that will be a tremendous resource to meet our health care challenges in the 21st century,” says Sally Brosz Hardin, Dean of the University of San Diego’s nursing school. “The Beyster Institute will play a key role in the preparation of nurse scientists, educators, executives and military officers for San Diego and southern California, as well as the nation.”
The facility has been designed to meet LEED Gold standards for sustainability.
