CROWN POINT — With the shortage of registered nurses in the U.S. projected to increase, Ivy Tech continues to produce graduates well qualified to meet health-care needs, thanks to state-of-the-art equipment.

The college’s Crown Point location, 9900 Connecticut Dr., boasts two high-fidelity simulation labs. The first lab creates a labor and delivery environment and includes a birthing manikin that faculty and students named Mercedes (in keeping with a “car” theme, the birthing baby is called Porsche).

The $86,000 birthing robot provides nursing students with a realistic training experience, including C-sections and various complications that can occur during childbirth. Post-partum care also is practiced.

The second lab, with three high-tech manikins, simulates an intensive care unit and provides teaching situations from all stages of life. The manikins – representing an infant, child and adult male — can be programmed to simulate diseases and conditions such as dehydration, congestive heart failure, epilepsy, pulmonary disease and neurological conditions. Bentley, the male manikin, and Mercedes are able to speak and produce fluids in order to make scenarios as realistic as possible.

The labs also have hospital-grade equipment, including an automated medication dispensing unit, a mobile medication cart equipped with barcode scanning, “smart” IV pumps, computerized charting and realistic touch-screen patient monitors.

A recently hired simulation expert develops and runs the scenarios, choosing what health conditions will be replicated. She also provides a post-simulation evaluation and debriefing, during which students are able to replay the recorded event and see what improvements are needed in their responses.

“The two high-fidelity labs are a valuable asset to our nursing program because they provide a safe and supportive learning environment that promotes critical thinking while bridging the gap between theory and practice,” Jennifer Philbin, dean of nursing for Ivy Tech’s Northwest region, said.