MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Starting in Fall 2025, the WVU School of Nursing will offer a new elective course for senior nursing students — NSG 409: Emerging Technologies and Innovations in Healthcare.
Dr. Heather Carter-Templeton, who designed the course, said nurses who use healthcare technology often do not have a say in product design or development.
“The ultimate goal for this course is to help facilitate cross-disciplinary experiences with others, such as those in engineering and business analytics,” Carter-Templeton said. “Nurses need to have a seat at the table to have the opportunity to collaborate early on with design of technologies and innovations we use in clinical spaces.”
She said because nurses have more contact with patients than nearly any other healthcare professional, having input in the process is especially important. She hopes this course will help establish a better understanding of the technology and business operations, as well as introduce students to existing resources on campus, like the WVU LaunchLab.
The WVU LaunchLab, operational since 2014, offers students, faculty and staff a supportive network for development, education, mentorship, prototyping and more for their entrepreneurial endeavors. During the elective course, nursing students will have an opportunity to utilize the space and hear success stories from guest speakers.
“The point of this course is to help these students consider what they are learning, what they are seeing, and take a look with fresh eyes and perspective,” Carter-Templeton said. “I hope this course will help them gain understanding and feel empowered to share the voice of the nurse in situations where they have the opportunity to collaborate with engineers and analytics.”
While there are no prerequisite requirements for the course, students must be in their senior year to sign up. The program will first be piloted with Morgantown undergraduates, but Carter-Templeton is hopeful to expand.
As a 2022-24 IDEAS Fellow, Carter-Templeton committed to creating the new course for nursing students. Throughout the program, she gained ideas to implement into the elective. She has also been actively working with Anne Jones, LaunchLab Director, to best utilize their resources for students in the course.
“Nursing is very good at helping students successfully find employment after graduation, but we don’t always teach nurses to be job creators. I hope nurses can begin to leverage their expertise and consider entrepreneurship more often,” Carter-Templeton said. “We’re a very innovative group. It’s the nature of what we do, so I’m hoping to help cultivate that spirit of innovation.”
Class registration for seniors begins April 1. For more information, please contact Dr. Heather-Carter Templeton at heather.cartertempleton@hsc.wvu.edu.
Photo Caption: Drs. Heather Carter-Templeton (left) and Joy Maramba (second from left) recently visited the WVU LaunchLab, where they learned more about the space from student Zachary Taylor (second from right) and LaunchLab Director Anne Jones (right).
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CONTACT: Wendy Holdren
Director of Communications and Marketing
WVU School of Nursing
304-581-1772; wendy.holdren@hsc.wvu.edu