Their patient was a geriatric mannequin, part of the new equipment in the College of Nursing's renovated client simulation laboratory. The difference in the mannequin's pupil size offered the students a chance to use their diagnostic skills.

"Could mean concussion," one student murmured as she peered into the patient's eyes. "Or other brain trauma," offered another student.

Except for the dozen or so textbooks scattered on the desktops in the center of the room, the lab is a realistic health care facility complete with beds, separate examination rooms, and some very malleable mannequins.

Located in the Williams Brice College of Nursing building, the client simulation lab includes a large common classroom area, seven beds along surrounding walls, and seven separate examination rooms, including one room that is used to study geriatric patient care. Having this learning laboratory in the College of Nursing is not new.

For years students have practiced CPR and other care skills on adult mannequins in an area designated for just that purpose. Students work with a variety of patients. What is new is the lab's location and its equipment.

"We've moved the lab to the first floor from the third, doubled the square footage, and tried to simulate the hospital setting as closely as possible," said June Headley, director of the College's Information Resource Center. "There are new exam tables, newly refurbished hospital beds, and lots of new models for simulating exams."

The College is also in the process of obtaining several new mannequinsÑ pediatric, geriatric, middle-aged--many with soft intravenous arm and leg panels that can be punctured with a needle. Others will have interchangeable parts. And soon, on the wall above each bed will be a panel like that found in a hospital, complete with functioning suction and simulated oxygen.

"What we had before was a space with a few exam rooms and one sink for the entire lab," continued Headley, who oversaw the lab's redesign. "Now there's a sink in every exam room and several other sinks in the common classroom area.

"It was hard to encourage students to wash their hands at the end of each exam with only one sink. The new lab provides us with the opportunity to teach proper precautions while in the simulation environment. This will reinforce the importance of hand washing in the actual hospital setting."

Adjacent to the lab is a new cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) room. The CPR and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLA) certification courses offered through the College are taken via CD-ROM. The mannequins here are equipped with sensors that attach to a computer.

The CPR course, a requirement for all nursing students, will be offered to the public beginning in late summer. The cost to take the CPR course will be $50, and the cost for the ACLS course will be $150. USC students, faculty, and staff will get a discount.