Learning by Doing

Students in the Martin-Herold College of Nursing and Health (MHCNH) are prepared to provide outstanding care and offer compassionate service—all by learning in a practical way to meet community needs.

Research & Field Experience

Students use evidence as the basis for nursing interventions. You’ll learn to read, analyze, and use evidence through on-going instruction study. For example:

  • Seniors and RN–BSN students present evidence-based nursing interventions in poster presentations that are viewed by audiences across the campus and in clinical practice areas. 
  • Mount Mercy’s annual Scholarship Festival presents a showcase of students’ best work in nursing and all other majors. 
  • MSN students participate in research activities and prepare presentations that are focused on specific questions within their area of practice.

Clinical Environments

Our nursing students apply classroom techniques in real-world clinical environments through partnerships with Mercy Medical Center, UnityPoint Health–St. Luke’s Hospital, the VA Health Care System, and other local rehab, home care, long-term care, and school nursing agencies.

Students provide direct patient care, patient education, family assessments, teaching, and group-oriented projects. Whether in faculty-supervised clinical groups or independent clinical activities, students are guided, evaluated, and supported in their professional skills development.

Clinical Simulation Laboratory

Our Clinical Simulation Laboratory (CSL) functions to support the nursing education curriculum. 

Learning opportunities simulate authentic nursing practice and help students learn and practice clinical skills required for entry-level nursing practice. Nursing students participate in a variety of learning activities and clinical simulations with a wide range of nursing equipment and qualified educators.

A solid grounding in principles such as national patient safety goals, infection control, nursing practice for registered nurses, and the American Nurses’ Association code of ethics for nurses helps students translate learning from the CSL into clinical practice.

Telehealth

Mount Mercy’s telehealth delivery system and lab upgrades have had a direct impact on our nursing students. The main campus telehealth room connects to a provider telehealth room at the CRST International Graduate Center, allowing students the opportunity to simulate the nurse role at a distance.

By integrating telehealth into my practice, I'll have the ability to provide care in remote locations where care likely did not exist before. By lessening this disparity, I, along with other health care providers, can generate a healthier Iowa!

Carson Burgart ’21 MSN
University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics

Be the standard for nursing excellence.

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