Just 18 months after the groundbreaking, the Clemson University Nursing building opened its doors on Greenville Health System’s main campus. And students already had their first 8 a.m. classes to attend.

The new building is linked to The University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville by a two-story connector, which was very intentional – its aim is to give nursing, medical, pharmacy, + other health professional students the opportunity to learn + grow in an environment that mirrors their future work setting.

“It must be the only [place] in the universe in which Clemson is hooked to a University of South Carolina building,” Greenville Health System President + Clemson alumnus Dr. Spence M. Taylor joked.

The collaboration will help meet a need for nurses while also increasing innovative health practices + research in the region + beyond.

By the numbers:

6,400: The predicted shortage of registered nurses in South Carolina by 2028 (by the Office of Healthcare Workforce). The projected shortage comes from the increased level of illness in the general population over the last 20 years, as well as the growing numbers of seniors over 65 who will require qualified nurses to provide care. In their collaboration, GHS + Clemson are helping to ensure that the entire region has high-quality nurses in spite of the shortage. The facility will aid in the education + graduation of more job-ready nursing students, while also allowing more recruiting + retention of future nurses as new employment options become available to them.

2020: The year by which the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s Health and Medicine Division recommends 80 percent of nurses have a bachelor’s degree to adequately combat the impending RN shortage.

$31.5 million: The cost of this impressive facility, which houses not only large classrooms for lecture, but goes beyond theoretical preparations with practical hospital-like simulations + high-fidelity human patient simulators I toured this floor; the “patients” are incredibly realistic, from a crying infant eliciting comfort to adults mimicking real life symptoms.

~78,000: The Clemson University Nursing building square footage, which encompasses four floors of classrooms, research offices, undergraduate + graduate student facilities, simulation labs, + more for the future nurses of our community to learn + practice.

173: The number of freshmen students Clemson School of Nursing was able to accept this fall. Those students attend classes at Edwards Hall on Clemson’s main campus while a portion of upperclassmen attend classes at the Clemson University Nursing building. The creation of this building has allowed almost a tripling in class size, as in past years Clemson accepted 64 freshmen nursing students annually (By fall 2021, the maximum capacity of the School of Nursing’s expanded undergraduate program should be 704.)

$33 million: The anticipated savings GHS believes they will see over the next ten years from reduction in supplemental staffing, nurse turnover, + residency/training programs.

30,000: The square footage of the combined simulation laboratories in the USC School of Medicine Greenville + Clemson University Nursing building: making it one of the largest simulation centers in the country.

Senior honors nursing student + President of Clemson Student Nurses Association Caroline White told the attendees of the ribbon cutting ceremony, “Nursing is not just facts and figures…but an emotional, vulnerable experience with a person in their time of need.” We applaud Caroline + the inaugural nursing class who will be learning + studying at the Clemson University Nursing Building. I could tell from her speech that she represents such passionate future nurses (+ was deserving of the honor of cutting the ribbon).

What do you think of the new Clemson University Nursing Building? Can we all put aside our rivalries like these outstanding institutions brought together by GHS + defeat the nursing shortage?

This post was created in partnership with Greenville Health System.