Students studying to become nurses at Indiana University Purdue University in Columbus will get hands-on experience using echocardiogram machines from Schneck Medical Center.

The Seymour hospital has donated four Mortara Instrument, 12-lead EKG machines to the college’s school of nursing after recently upgrading their own equipment, according to a news release from the college.

Had the college purchased the machines new, it would have cost around $40,000, said Beth Sharer, division head of the IUPUC School of Nursing.

EKG machines are an efficient method of producing detailed images of abnormalities, blood circulation problems and valve or blood vessel damage in the heart, according to the American Heart Association.

By locating irregularities in the heart through EKGs, doctors are able to diagnose conditions such as blood clots and tumors.

Vicki Johnson-Poynter, vice president of nursing at Schneck, said the hospital wants to help educate and support its future workforce.

“Schneck is proud to make this donation to enhance the actual hands-on learning for nursing students,” she said. “Having access to EKG machines will foster the knowledge of cardiac care for our future nurses.”

The EKG machines are a part of Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support certification training and will be utilized in the school’s second year nursing program for student learning in EKG lead placement and interpreting heart rhythms from patient actors and pre-programmed mannequins.

“This gift is another example of how our regional healthcare partners support us,” Sharer said.

By 2020, there will be an estimated 18,000 open nursing positions in the state, and many of those will train at IUPUC, she added.

“These partnerships with the community make it possible to train our local talent close to home and, therefore, retain them in the region,” she said.

Almost all, 98 percent, of nurses trained at IUPUC live and work in the region.

“Without the support of all our community partners, our program would not exist,” she said.