Beaufort Memorial Welcomes USCB Nursing Students to Career Development Center

On their first day of class, the Beaufort Memorial PATH Career Development Center welcomed 24 University of South Carolina-Beaufort sophomores currently enrolled in the school’s nursing program.

This class of 24 is the first USCB nursing cohort to use the Center as a satellite location for the school’s growing nursing program. Their first day of class in the Center was August 18.

Beaufort Memorial cut the ribbon on the $2.8 million facility in July 2024. The 6,340-square-foot facility located on the hospital’s main campus in Beaufort was built in partnership with USCB, the City of Beaufort, Beaufort County and the Beaufort Memorial Foundation.

While this facility is a satellite location for the USCB nursing program, it also provides hands-on training and classroom education for current and future health professionals. The Center's four simulation labs are equipped identically to Beaufort Memorial Hospital rooms, and each include a lifelike simulation manikin.

During recent simulations, clinical staff practiced their skills in pediatric respiratory emergencies and treatments, cardiac arrests and addressing some rare surgical complications under general anesthesia. These drills, mock procedures and hands-on learning experiences allow staff to practice clinical skillsets and learn new ones using state-of-the-art simulation technology right on the hospital's main campus.

“This is one way that we are helping increase our nursing pool, by partnering with one of our local universities that we have partnered with for years,” said Joy Solomon, MSN, RN, NPD-BC, Beaufort Memorial Director of Education and Workforce Development. “Every hospital struggles with nursing shortages, and we have become strategic with how we fill those gaps. We want to be ahead of the curve as much as possible, and this partnership is one of the innovative ways that Beaufort Memorial is doing that.”

Solomon called the longtime partnership with the local university “momentous” for the community hospital system.

The Center also plays a key role in expanding professional development for Beaufort Memorial staff members, as well as clinical skills training and assessment and certification testing for mid-career and aspiring healthcare professionals through the hospital's PATH (People Achieving Their Highest) workforce development program .

“Many students don’t have a hospital background,” said Suzanne Wurster, PhD, the department chair of the USCB nursing program. “We have a few who are in the hospital setting and they are quite comfortable around patients already, but in this semester, we give them opportunities to be able to interact with standardized patients. It could be a live human, but it could also be a manikin that we have in the simulation labs here.”

USCB nursing students in this cohort come from Beaufort, Bluffton and beyond, and chose to attend classes specifically at this satellite location on the Beaufort Memorial Hospital campus, allowing them to be immersed in a local healthcare setting.

With this additional location, the university hopes to continue to grow their program from graduating 42 nurses every year to 72.

“I think it’s amazing for a hospital of our size to have this type of facility and partner with a major university in this way,” Solomon said. “And Beaufort Memorial anticipates more and more growth, and we are going to need staff to fill those gaps.”

Learn more about career development opportunities with Beaufort Memorial and browse open positions.