Delaware Technical Community College received a $100,000 grant from Highmark Delaware’s BluePrints for the Community to purchase equipment to support the college’s Diagnostic Medical Sonography and Nursing Programs.
Enhancements to the Diagnostic Medical Sonography program, made possible through the grant, included new software and equipment that expand teaching opportunities to obstetrical scanning of rare fetal anomalies, which are discussed didactically but may be infrequently encountered by students in the clinical setting.
The grant also provides students with the opportunity to learn a variety of peripheral vascular studies that can be time-consuming to teach exclusively in the clinical setting. Learning the fundamental skills of scanning is critical to the students’ education and is an aspect where simulation offers clear learning benefits over the traditional clinical environment.
The grant also funded the purchase of a new simulation mannequin for Delaware Tech’s Nursing Program. Simulation mannequins are used on all of the College’s campuses and provide students with the opportunity to experience real-life scenarios that they will face with future patients.
“Both of these programs use simulation-based education to prepare our students to be job ready on day one of their careers,” said Delaware Tech President Mark T. Brainard. “We take that responsibility very seriously, and we’re grateful that Highmark is partnering with us to achieve our mission.”
“We created the BluePrints for the Community grant program in 2007 to address the needs of our community, said Tim Constantine, president, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware. “One of the goals of BluePrints is to help organizations like Delaware Tech recruit and train the next generation of healthcare professionals.”
“We are proud to support Delaware Tech as they continue to offer state of the art clinical programs and graduate highly-trained students that will be providing high-quality health care throughout Delaware,” continued Constantine.
