Texas A&M Health Science Center opens first Round Rock campus building

By Community Impact Newspaper Staff Friday, 11 December 2009

ROUND ROCK — The Texas A&M Health Science Center held a ribbon cutting Dec. 10 for the first building on its Round Rock campus, 30 months after receiving initial funding from the Texas Legislature.

The new 134,000-sq. ft. facility will be used for clinical teaching and includes a simulation center equipped with computer-programmed mannequins, administrative offices and clinical research space for the Texas A&M Health Science Center/Scott & White Diabetes Institute.

Lone Star Circle of Care will also begin seeing patients Dec. 14 at its 33,000-sq. ft. clinic located inside the Health Science Center. The clinic, which serves Williamson County’s uninsured and underinsured residents, will also function as a major teaching site for HSC students.

The new building contains simulation labs designed to train students by realistically simulating a range of physiological states and responses. A mock operating and emergency room features the same type of equipment used in hospital ERs, with a mannequin standing in as a patient. Ceiling-mounted video cameras record students’ response to simulated emergencies, allowing them to review the operation after it is complete.

A simulated nursery houses mannequins of newborn infants that breathe and display vital signs, and an adjacent delivery room contains a pregnant dummy that trains students in birthing procedures.

The Texas Legislature appropriated $9 million in 2007 for the construction of the Round Rock campus, and in January 2008, the city’s Avery family donated 15 acres west of FM 1460 and south of CR 112 in Round Rock to house the Health Science Center. Texas A&M also purchased an additional 35 acres, and construction of the inaugural building began in mid-August 2008.

The HSC-College of Medicine and HSC-Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy are providing clinical training for students in Round Rock through rotations in various Williamson County hospitals, clinics, medical practices and pharmacies.

In 2009, the Legislature provided additional funds to support the Round Rock campus’s expansion efforts, and plans are underway for the Round Rock campus to host other HSC colleges, including the College of Nursing and School of Rural Public Health.

Visit www.tamhsc.edu.