Nursing students at The University of Texas Arlington can now take advantage of an innovative learning environment thanks to support from a leader in health care products and service.

Hill-Rom, a Hillenbrand Industry based in Batesville, Ind., has established a National Demonstration Showcase at the School of Nursing's Smart Hospital.

Hill-Rom assists health care professionals to deliver safe, effective and efficient care to patients in acute care, long-term care and home care environments.

This National Demonstration Showcase will provide strategic benefits to UT Arlington nursing students and health care providers in the community by offering Hill-Rom's extensive product and service systems for use in Smart Hospital educational and research initiatives. Hill-Rom's pulmonary therapy system, TotalCare® bed systems, information technology system, patient and workflow solutions, nurse communication systems, and safe workplace initiatives will help make the Smart Hospital a unique educational care facility.

Hill-Rom will be actively involved in faculty development and student learning through product demonstrations, new product beta site testing, and collaborative initiatives to ensure that products are matched to student learning needs now, and into the future.

"The Smart Hospital at UT Arlington is a novel concept that expands the boundaries of current experiential learning environments. Hill-Rom is committed to raising standards of care and safety in patient care and that begins in the educational arena," said Don Shirley, vice president of sales North America. "The products we have donated represent what nurses will be working with in the majority of hospitals in the North America once they graduate."

The School of Nursing is also a Laerdal Center of Excellence in Simulation and will be integrating the use of Hill-Rom's patient care products with patient simulation to provide and evaluate best practices in health care education. This collaboration will benefit undergraduate and graduate nursing education as well as the continuing education and credentialing needs of practicing health care providers and community emergency responders.

These state-of-science systems and products ensure that UT Arlington students and others will be learning in the Smart Hospital that is on the leading edge of technology for patient safety and innovative education and research.

Dean Elizabeth Poster of the School of Nursing said, "Our collaboration with industry leaders like Hill-Rom and Laerdal is vital to our continued focus on providing an educational environment that addresses the critical need for competent, confident nurses."

The new facility housing the School of Nursing's 13,000 square foot Smart Hospital will open in summer 2007.