Abstract
SUNY Plattsburgh has a baccalaureate nursing program that has been active in integrating technology in nursing education for many years. Recently, the faculty implemented human simulation (Laerdal's SimMan) in the Nursing Skills Lab (NSL) to provide some uniform clinical experiences (high frequency or high risk scenarios) not always available in hospital clinicals. Now the challenge has been to include a method for students to practice electronic documentation of nursing actions outside of their clinical experiences. To meet this need, several software products were examined. In 2008, when this project began, there were few products from which to choose. Several large electronic medical record (EMR) products were examined, but due to privacy mandates, they did not lend themselves to use in simulation. One EMR company (Cerner) does have a simulation product, but it is expensive. The faculty wanted to introduce a documentation system easily adaptable to scenarios consistent with the classroom content and that could also be used for completion of assignments based on hospital clinical. NurseSquared (N2) software from Nursing Data Systems was found to be the product most compatible with the goals of the nursing faculty. This internet-based client-server system allows students and faculty to access their work from any computer on which the client software is installed. Faculty may assign scenarios for work in the nursing skills lab or students may be assigned to use the software to submit their hospital clinical write-ups. The software can be used from Nursing Fundamentals through Health Assessment to SimMan scenarios for students working on bedside computers in the NSL. In addition, faculty can review and critique the work online over the Internet.
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