Course leader Marjorie Dalton said the course encouraged “people who wouldn’t normally have an opportunity to do the traditional route to nursing, through the universities” to get into healthcare.
It has been helped by the use of the “high fidelity mannequins”, she said.
They can be programmed to “have breathing difficulties, heart conditions, cardiac arrests”, she said, which allows students to practise treating patients, or escalating the situation to a registered nurse.
Taibar described the mannequins, which cost up to £35,000 each, as “a bit freaky”.
“They do talk to you… you can take bloods from them, they have a heartbeats, you can check their sats [blood saturation levels], their observations,” she said.