Physiological wet laboratory facilities in colleges of nursing

The purpose of this study was to describe physiological wet laboratories as they exist within colleges of nursing with doctoral programs. Surveys were sent to the current deans and directors of all 96 nursing colleges/schools with doctoral programs as of January 2004, obtained from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Web site. Only 26 (37%) of 71 responding schools operate their own wet laboratory, either singly or with another college. The most common analyses done are hormone levels, immune proteins, and cell counts, followed by catecholamines, chemistries, and bacterial cultures. Approximate annual costs of running wet laboratories range from 1,500 dollars to 320,000 dollars per school. Schools based in an academic health center were more likely to operate a wet laboratory ( chi2 = .003). There were no differences based on source of university funding (public vs. private) or Carnegie classification.