What is the Clinical Learning Center (CLC)?
The Clinical Learning Center (CLC) is where future nurses learn by doing. As a core part of the BSN program, the CLC gives students hands-on experience with realistic simulations, advanced technology, and immersive learning—so you can build confidence and clinical skills before caring for real patients.
Here, mistakes become learning opportunities, and practice happens in a safe, supportive environment designed to help you succeed in clinicals and beyond.
Why BSN Students Learn in the CLC
Nursing is more than memorizing content—it’s knowing how to respond, think critically, and make decisions under pressure. The CLC helps you develop those skills early and often.
As a BSN student, you will:
- Practice essential and advanced nursing skills without risk to patients
- Experience realistic clinical scenarios that strengthen critical thinking and clinical judgment
- Learn how to prioritize care and respond to changing patient conditions
- Work in interprofessional healthcare scenarios similar to real clinical settings
- Apply what you learn directly to your clinicals and practica
Learn in Realistic Healthcare Environments
The Clinical Learning Center is designed to look and function like a real healthcare setting. You’ll practice in labs equipped with fully functional hospital beds, nursing stations, medication dispensing systems, and authentic clinical supplies.
High-tech simulation rooms feature advanced mannequins, audiovisual systems, and guided debriefing spaces—where instructors help you reflect, ask questions, and grow after each scenario. Many simulation experiences can also be streamed virtually, expanding learning opportunities beyond the lab.
New: Immersive Reality Learning
The CLC includes a new Immersive Reality space, offering an exciting way to experience patient care before entering the clinical environment.
Through virtual and immersive technology, you can:
- Step into lifelike patient care scenarios
- Practice clinical decision-making and prioritization
- Build confidence handling complex or high-risk situations
This technology adds another layer of preparation, helping you feel more comfortable and capable when you begin real-world clinical experiences.
Gain Experience—Before You Enter the Hospital
Our simulators can speak, respond, and demonstrate real physiological changes. You’ll practice caring for patients across the lifespan—from infants to older adults—and across a variety of healthcare situations.
Available simulators include:
- Two Laerdal SimMan 3G simulators
- Two Laerdal SimMan Essential simulators
- Twelve Laerdal VitalSim units
- One Laerdal VitalKid
- One Laerdal SimBaby
- Two Gaumard Noelle full-body birthing simulators
- Eight lower-fidelity geriatric and multicultural full-body simulators
- Seven low-fidelity infant simulators
Community Access to the Clinical Learning Center
The Clinical Learning Center is more than a teaching space for students—it’s a regional resource for healthcare education and training.
Faculty experts in instructional design and simulation-based learning partner with community organizations to develop engaging, outcomes-focused experiences. From selecting the right simulation approach to sequencing skills and scenarios, we help ensure training is effective, relevant, and aligned with real-world needs.
The Clinical Learning Center is available to community partners for a wide range of health-related simulation experiences, including:
- Healthcare workforce training and onboarding
- Continuing education and skills refreshers for practicing clinicians
- Interprofessional team training and communication exercises
- Emergency preparedness and response simulations
- Public health, community health, and patient safety education
- Research and program evaluation using simulation-based methods
Community groups, healthcare organizations, and educational partners are invited to explore how simulation can support their learning and training goals.
To learn more or request access, please contact nursing@uwec.edu
