Learning Objective #1: The learner will be able to understand the applicability of utilizing computer simulations for clinical education of the baccalaureate nursing student.

Learning Objective #2: The learner will be able to understand how the Noelle Childbirth Simulator is being creatively synthesized into the clinical education of undergraduate nursing students.

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Creative educational methods enhance the learning environment by engaging the learner's attention and participation. In the current environment of unusually high numbers of undergraduate nursing students, less than optimum numbers of clinical faculty, and competition among educational institutions for clinical sites, the need for 'creative educational methods' has never been more acute. Although 'skills labs' have been utilized for many years to encourage students to learn the 'fundamentals' of nursing prior to actual patient contact, the integration of models with computerized software is relatively new. In the Parent Child Nursing course at the Department of Nursing at York College of Pennsylvania, the Noelle Childbirth Simulator is being utilized to expose the junior year nursing students to the processes of labor and birth, to the information and skills that are needed by a labor and birth nursing professional, as well as to the many roles of the nurse who provides care on a mother-baby unit. Within a small group (enhancing one-to-one interactions) the students are provided a 'layering' of information via computerized educational programs, birthing charts, manual simulation boards, miniature 'birth units' (consisting of a uterus, pelvis, anmiotic sac, umbilical cord, and 'fetus'), and the birthing simulator. This experience has been able to provide opportunities for the students to review supportive information and clinical pathways relevant to the care of the pregnant and laboring patient, to the care of the fetus, as well as to the immediate care of the newborn. The students have also been able to 'role play' through scenarios for labor and birth in a 'non-threatening' environment. This has encouraged the students to share observations, experiences, and questions related to this area of nursing care.