School of Nursing students now have access to an upgraded classroom in the Health Services Building that’s helping bring their education to life. Since January, this space has served as the new home for NURS 304 – Health Assessment, a foundational course focused on the critical skills of evaluating patient health through observation, communication, and clinical reasoning.
Taught by Anne-Marie Kuchinski, the course provides students with hands-on practice in health assessment techniques, emphasizing the influence of cultural diversity, age, and lifestyle on patient care. The new classroom offers a dynamic, realistic setting where future nurses can begin bridging the gap between theory and practice.
“The space is really nice in that it is much larger than the lab we used previously,” Kuchinski said. “Our students have more privacy when they are assessing, they can spread out more, and we have been able to adapt the space to meet our needs.”
The improvements include individual exam tables with privacy curtains, as well as television monitors for instructional videos and demonstrations—upgrades that support different styles of learning and reinforce the course’s emphasis on real-world clinical situations.
“The new space offers fewer distractions,” Kuchinski added. “It has separate areas to accommodate different learning approaches, like tables and chairs for discussions and exam tables for assessment.”
But the physical changes are just one part of the story. Health assessment is a cornerstone of nursing education, laying the groundwork for everything students will do in their clinical careers. By working through assessment scenarios—where they identify both normal and abnormal findings—students begin developing the critical thinking, observational acuity, and communication skills they will need on the job.
“Assessment is where nurses begin to understand their patients as whole people,” Kuchinski said. “It’s not just about taking vitals—it’s about knowing what’s normal, recognizing what’s not, and knowing how to communicate that clearly to the healthcare team.”
Scenarios used in NURS 304 mimic real-life situations, helping students to apply classroom knowledge in a safe, supportive environment. Through this kind of experiential learning, students gain confidence, deepen their clinical judgment, and prepare for success not only on licensing exams like the NCLEX but in the fast-paced realities of patient care.
As healthcare grows more complex and patient needs become more diverse, courses like NURS 304—supported by purpose-built learning environments—are essential in preparing nurses to think critically, act decisively, and care compassionately from day one.
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