The University of British Columbia has opened a new health-focused academic building that will house its nursing program, consolidate kinesiology departments and bring student health services together under one roof. The Gateway Health building spans 270,550 square feet and is intended to serve as a hub for teaching, research and student care. The move marks a major transition for UBC’s school of nursing, which had been based at the campus hospital since 1980. Dr. Elizabeth Saewyc, director of the school of nursing, said the new facility includes a clinical simulation lab designed to help students prepare for real-world care. “What this space allows us is an opportunity to give our students experiences that are accurate in clinical practice before they are actually in those clinical settings,” Saewyc said. Instructors can run simulated patient scenarios from a control room, allowing students to practice clinical decision-making and patient assessment in real time. “This is where they get a chance to demonstrate their judgement, learn their problem solving to assess and understand what they would do as a nurse providing care for this particular patient,” she said. The building also brings together kinesiology programs that had previously been spread across eight locations on campus. Student health and well-being services will also be centralized in the facility for the first time. Matthew Roddis, co-director of planning and design with UBC Campus and Community Planning, said consolidating programs in one space is intended to improve collaboration. “It really brings all these different groups, many of whom were spread in various parts of the university…all together, to collaborate, to learn from each other,” Roddis said. Saewyc said the shared space also supports more hands-on collaboration between students training in different health professions. “The opportunity to do multidisciplinary simulations, bring other health professionals to run through a scenario where each of them can run through their particular scope of practice,” she said. The building includes teaching labs, classrooms and study areas designed to support interdisciplinary learning. The school says a new interprofessional teaching clinic is expected to open in the building later this year, providing space for student training and health-care education. UBC says representatives of the Musqueam Indian Band were involved in the planning and design of the building. The university says their input influenced the building’s placement, landscaping with native plants and the inclusion of artwork by Musqueam artists throughout the facility.
