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McALLEN — The first of its kind in the Rio Grande Valley.
That’s what the tone was Tuesday morning when Driscoll celebrated the official opening of its training center in McAllen, one billed as the first of its kind for the Corpus Christi-based hospital system in this region because it will focus solely on pediatric care, according to Matthew Wolthoff, president of Driscoll Children’s Hospital Rio Grande Valley.
The $2.7 million center, located at 601 E. Nolana Ave. Suites B and C, will focus their efforts on providing new employees with the necessary training as well as making sure current staff receive the same.
As of now, Driscoll has hired about 80% of its total staff and a little over 90% of its clinical staff for the new hospital at 2820 W. Michelangelo Drive in Edinburg.
“We’ll provide them (new hires) with pediatric-specific clinical training with actual simulations and hands-on training,” Wolthoff explained, adding that the center will allow the hospital staff to continue learning new techniques as medicine continues to advance.
“As protocols and care pathways develop, as we get smarter in what we do we can train our staff and keep them up to date as well.”
Wolthoff explained that as they prepare to open the children’s hospital in about 76 days, he believed the training center to be an investment in the future of healthcare in the Valley.
He explained that the center will be led by a clinical education team that will cover each department’s services available at the hospital.
“We plan on doing a lot of teaching and so this training center will support that teaching,” Wolthoff explained, adding that they hope to establish a pediatric residency program within two years of the hospital’s opening.
For Wolthoff, the center also serves as an investment in staff development and retention.
“It’s first and foremost about quality and improving patient care but also about retaining employees and making sure that they feel like we’re investing in them,” Wolthoff said.
Laura Meister, chief nursing officer at Driscoll Children’s Hospital Rio Grande Valley, shared similar sentiments, adding that the training center will help ease the transition into real-life scenarios.
“There are all kinds of training, It’s everything from our new employees that get their orientation here to our leadership training to our advanced specialty courses,” Meister said.
She added that with the help of the center, staff will be able to train in various medical scenarios such as basic life support, pediatric advanced life support and mock clinical work.
“It’s a wonderful asset to have something like this because they can be more comfortable when they actually see a patient,” Meister said, adding that the simulation labs allow trainees to build confidence in an environment where they can ask questions and make mistakes.
The training center includes three simulation labs where instructors will be able to replicate real-life hospital scenarios using high-fidelity mannequins.
With the help of about 12 instructors as well as their team in Corpus Christi the new center hopes to provide more than 1,100 hours of training a year.
Each simulation lab focuses on patients of different ages including neonatal training mannequins.
“We can do just about everything from a live birth (simulated birth) to resuscitation,” said Christine Davis, a registered nurse at Driscoll Children’s Hospital. “I’m very proud to be part of this team and be able to provide a great education for our new staff here in the RGV.”
