Clarian, IU School of Medicine and IU School of Nursing Announce Plans for Education and Resource Center on the Canal

INDIANAPOLIS – This summer work will begin on Fairbanks Hall, an education and resource center, which is a collaboration of Clarian Health Partners, the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Indiana University School of Nursing.

Fairbanks Hall will include a 30,000 square-foot, high fidelity simulation center jointly operated by Clarian and the schools of nursing and medicine. Other educational space and administrative offices of the IU School of Medicine and Clarian also will be housed in the center.

“We are excited about the positive prospects this project will have on the education and training of medical professionals at Clarian and throughout our state and beyond,” said Daniel F. Evans, Jr., president & CEO, Clarian Health Partners. “This project adds further momentum to the growth of the life sciences corridor, and it builds on our vision of preeminence in clinical excellence, patient safety, quality, and in the education and training of physicians, nurses and students.”

Fairbanks Hall is an 182,000 square-foot, six-story building between 10th and 11th streets on the east side of the canal. Situated squarely inside of this vibrant life sciences quadrant, the center will serve as a strategic component in the continued development of the life sciences initiative in Indiana and strengthen the ability of the city and state to retain and recruit talented and skilled companies and employees to the Indianapolis area.

The building will cost an estimated $44 million, largely being financed by Clarian, along with the IU School of Medicine, the IU School of Nursing and a generous contribution of $6 million from the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation Inc.

The building is expected to be completed in the summer of 2008.

"The Fairbanks Foundation is pleased to help support this major new facility as part of our continuing effort to bolster the infrastructure underlying Indiana health-related initiatives," said Leonard J. Betley, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer of the Fairbanks Foundation. “The building will serve as a gateway to the IU School of Medicine, providing new facilities for administrative offices and much-needed space for educating the state’s future doctors, nurses and other health-care professionals.”

The state-of-the-art simulation center will offer clinical training for IU nursing, medical and allied health students, clinical orientation of Clarian nurses, simulation training for staff physicians and residents, as well Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) training of students and employees. It is expected that thousands of students and professionals will be trained annually at the center. The simulation center will enhance patient care, patient safety and clinical outcomes.

A skills learning area, an e-ICU component and simulation areas including an operating room, emergency room, patient care room, obstetrical rooms, intensive care unit rooms and debriefing rooms, and other training and classrooms will be included in the center to provide real-time virtual training for clinicians.

“We are excited about being a partner in this venture,” said D. Craig Brater, M.D., dean of the Indiana University School of Medicine and vice president of Indiana University with responsibility for life sciences. “This will raise the level of education and training that the IU School of Medicine and Clarian are able to provide and will further position both organizations as national leaders.

"The simulation center will give us real time virtual training resulting in enhanced quality, patient safety and clinical outcomes. This simulation center will allow us to continue to be on the forefront of advances in clinical training and education,” Dr. Brater said.

"This is a wonderful, collaborative enterprise that will provide a wealth of experience for nursing students with direct benefit to patients,” said Marion Broome, Ph.D., R.N, Distinguished Professor and university dean of the School of Nursing. “The experience of working together with students from other health disciplines to solve patient problems will influence the attitudes and behaviors of both nurses and physicians for years to come. Each discipline brings its own perspective and sees the patient through a different lens. It is through learning how to communicate clearly and work together utilizing advanced simulated education practices that all health-care providers will be best prepared to meet the complex challenges patients and families present in today's health-care system."

Clarian departments including human resources, statewide operations, recruitment, business development, marketing and corporate communications, legal, managed care, infection control, nursing quality, procurement, government affairs and others whose employees frequently move between the downtown campuses will relocate to this building. This will allow these employees, who are currently based in off-campus buildings or at one of the hospitals, easy People Mover access to move between the hospitals more effectively and efficiently.

The School of Medicine departments to be included in Fairbanks Hall are the dean’s office, the offices of the executive associate deans, finance, operations, administration, human resources, gift development, public and media relations, alumni affairs, university counsel, and some of the offices for IU Medical Group – Specialty Care, the practice plan for some IU physicians.

The School of Nursing administrative offices will remain in the Nursing Building on the Indiana University- Purdue University Indianapolis campus.