Haunted Hospital, Real-World Lessons: Vocational Nursing Students Practice Patient Safety in “Ward 13”

Publish Date: Nov. 13, 2026

As part of their deliberate practice session on Wednesday, October 28th, and in the spirit of the approaching Halloween, the vocational nursing students stepped into "Ward 13," a haunted hospital where the previous shift had vanished and left behind mislabeled medications, contaminated supplies, and missed warning signs. The nursing students worked in small teams of three, each with a colorful name: the Night Shift, the Code Creepers, the Phantom Nurses, and the Vital Signs Vigilantes. Each team rotated through four patient scenarios built to sharpen observation, clinical judgment, and clinical reasoning.

At each station, students took turns as lead nurse, safety detective, and recorder/reporter, so everyone contributed. In the Apothecary of Fatal Errors station, teams caught a wrong-patient label, an allergy conflict, an unlabeled medication cup, and an unsafe patient identifier, then calculated a correct dose. In the Room That Wants You to Fall, they found and fixed fall hazards and responded safely to a simulated fall. In the Contaminated Crypt, they sorted clean from contaminated items and performed proper hand hygiene, PPE (personal protective covering) selection, and wound-care setup. In the Sugarless Séance, they recognized hypoglycemia, chose a treatment that followed protocol, and planned reassessment.

Points went to safe, well-reasoned decisions rather than speed. In the final challenge, "Don't Break the Infection Control Cycle," teams donned PPE that they then had to escape without contaminating themselves from the simulated infectious grime on their gowns. A guided debrief brought the focus back to real patient care.

Behind the dark lit hospital and candlelight, each student practiced the same thing: noticing what matters, asking questions, and acting safely for every patient.

To learn more about CHC's nursing programs visit craftonhills.edu/nursing