Electronic health records (EHR) have the potential to make health care more predictive, preventive and precise, and a group of Trident Technical College nursing faculty set out to make sure students enter the workforce ready to do just that.
Electronic health records are real-time, patient-centered records that are a part of everyday life for medical professionals. Yet nursing students are not always offered consistent opportunities to learn how to use them in a clinical setting.
Recognizing the fact that using technology in health care cannot be dismissed by nursing programs, department head Sherri Carter and instructors Laura Brigada, Maureen Baur and Debra Leach have implemented a way to incorporate electronic health record education into classroom seminar, clinical orientation and high-fidelity simulation.
It is the answer to an issue widely recognized in the nursing education community. The National League of Nursing issued a call to action for nursing faculty to better prepare students to enter the workforce by charging faculty to “teach with and about technology to better inform health care interventions that improve health outcomes and prepare the nursing workforce.”
Recent investigations have shown that EHRs have fallen short of their intended goals: to make medicine safer, bring higher-quality care, empower patients and save money. But despite the bumps in the road, the technology is here to stay, making it more important than ever for students to learn the technology and prevent mistakes from interfering with patients’ health care.
“It really boils down to safety in the workplace,” says Sherri. “If we cannot teach our students this technology – where the majority, if not all, of the patient’s information is housed – then we are setting our students up for failure when they enter the workplace.”
It hasn’t been easy though. One reason many nursing schools are still lagging behind is that when students do their required clinical rotations, sites are not able to allow them to have full rights to a patient’s EHR. Therefore, it is up to the nursing curriculum to afford opportunities for students to exercise clinical judgment when utilizing the EHR. If not, students will enter professional practice at a disadvantage.
Currently, TTC’s nursing program is the only one in the Lowcountry using educational electronic healthcare record (EEHR) in the classroom and simulation learning. The program has been so successful that the nursing instructors recently received TTC’s coveted SKIP award.
The SKIPs (Strategy + Knowledge = Innovation Prize) started in 2013, when former vice president of
Continuing Education and TTC Foundation Trustee, Skip Godow wanted to create a culture of innovation by rewarding those who make exceptional contributions that transform the student experience.
An example of this EHR innovation at work is during clinical labs. Students are asked to administer four different medications to four patients using the technology. At the end of the activity, the students know how to select the correct patient in the system, distinguish pertinent information prior to administering medications (allergies, vital signs, labs and other assessment findings), verify the rights of the medication administration using bar code scanning technology effectively and evaluate medication for effectiveness.
The program has added invaluable realism to scenarios because students use the EEHR to find and document information like they do in the clinical environment with actual patient records. The result is improved nursing education, the safety of future patients and an added measure of confidence for new graduates embarking on their career.
Click here for more information on TTC's Nursing program.
Recognizing the fact that using technology in health care cannot be dismissed by nursing programs, department head Sherri Carter and instructors Laura Brigada, Maureen Baur and Debra Leach have implemented a way to incorporate electronic health record education into classroom seminar, clinical orientation and high-fidelity simulation.
It is the answer to an issue widely recognized in the nursing education community. The National League of Nursing issued a call to action for nursing faculty to better prepare students to enter the workforce by charging faculty to “teach with and about technology to better inform health care interventions that improve health outcomes and prepare the nursing workforce.”
Recent investigations have shown that EHRs have fallen short of their intended goals: to make medicine safer, bring higher-quality care, empower patients and save money. But despite the bumps in the road, the technology is here to stay, making it more important than ever for students to learn the technology and prevent mistakes from interfering with patients’ health care.
“It really boils down to safety in the workplace,” says Sherri. “If we cannot teach our students this technology – where the majority, if not all, of the patient’s information is housed – then we are setting our students up for failure when they enter the workplace.”
It hasn’t been easy though. One reason many nursing schools are still lagging behind is that when students do their required clinical rotations, sites are not able to allow them to have full rights to a patient’s EHR. Therefore, it is up to the nursing curriculum to afford opportunities for students to exercise clinical judgment when utilizing the EHR. If not, students will enter professional practice at a disadvantage.
Currently, TTC’s nursing program is the only one in the Lowcountry using educational electronic healthcare record (EEHR) in the classroom and simulation learning. The program has been so successful that the nursing instructors recently received TTC’s coveted SKIP award.
The SKIPs (Strategy + Knowledge = Innovation Prize) started in 2013, when former vice president of
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| Sherri Carter, Laura Brigada, Debra Leach and Maureen Baur |
An example of this EHR innovation at work is during clinical labs. Students are asked to administer four different medications to four patients using the technology. At the end of the activity, the students know how to select the correct patient in the system, distinguish pertinent information prior to administering medications (allergies, vital signs, labs and other assessment findings), verify the rights of the medication administration using bar code scanning technology effectively and evaluate medication for effectiveness.
The program has added invaluable realism to scenarios because students use the EEHR to find and document information like they do in the clinical environment with actual patient records. The result is improved nursing education, the safety of future patients and an added measure of confidence for new graduates embarking on their career.
Click here for more information on TTC's Nursing program.
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