Abstract:
The present invention relates to a system and method of identifying clinical competencies to be completed by a healthcare student in a computerized environment. The method receives an academic unit of time for a healthcare student and identifies one or more corresponding clinical competencies for the academic unit of time to be satisfied by the student.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is related by subject matter to the invention disclosed in the commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/968,506, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING COMPLETED CLINICAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS FOR HEALTHCARE STUDENTS,” filed on Oct. 19, 2004. 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not applicable. 
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates generally to the field of computer software. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and method for assigning and tracking clinical education requirements for one or more healthcare students. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Nursing students, medical students, and other healthcare students have a wide variety of curriculum or competencies that must be mastered before graduation. These competencies and curriculum are specific to the healthcare industry. For example, students must show a minimum level of skill in hands-on clinical care. Students must exhibit proficiency in different healthcare procedures ranging from taking vital signs and respiratory rates, to being CPR certified. 
     The clinical and educational requirements or competencies that must be fulfilled by a healthcare student are difficult to track. Currently, student competencies are assigned and tracked manually via a paper chart or log. This is time consuming and requires faculty members to track the student&#39;s individual progress and record that progress in a paper chart or log. Furthermore, faculty can only view a student&#39;s record to determine what competencies have been met by seeing the current paper chart or log. Additionally, the student information on past competency skills, although available on a paper chart or log to the current faculty member, looking for the information is time-consuming. This makes it difficult for instructors to know whether an individual student has completed certain clinical competencies. 
     What would be beneficial is a system and method for assigning competencies for healthcare students and tracking these competencies so that they can be displayed to faculty members. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In one embodiment of the present invention, a system and method of identifying clinical competencies for a healthcare student in a computerized environment is provided. The method receives an academic unit of time for a healthcare student and identifies one or more corresponding clinical competencies for the academic unit of time to be satisfied by the student. 
     In another embodiment of the present invention, a system and method of assigning clinical academic competencies for a healthcare student in a computerized environment is provided. One or more academic competencies to be completed by a healthcare student are received. The competencies to be completed are stored in an academic record for the healthcare student. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention is described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a computing system environment suitable for use in implementing the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a flow diagram of a method for assigning competencies to one or more healthcare students in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a flow diagram of a method for receiving documentation of completed student competencies in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a flow diagram of a method for displaying student inputs in clinical case studies in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a screen shot displaying a student activity list for various fictitious healthcare students in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a screen shot displaying overdue competencies for a fictitious healthcare student in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 7  is a screen shot of a CPR certification competency for a fictitious healthcare student in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 8  is a screen shot of a set of student competencies to be documented for a healthcare student in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 9  is a screen shot displaying electronic notes included in a fictitious healthcare student&#39;s electronic curriculum file in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 10  is a screen shot displaying the fundamental competencies to be completed by a fictitious healthcare student as assigned by the healthcare faculty and in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 11  is a screen shot displaying competencies to be completed by a fictitious healthcare student in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 12  is a screen shot displaying a list of competencies completed by a fictitious healthcare student in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 13  is a screen shot displaying a review screen of a case study for use by healthcare students and faculty in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 14  is a screen shot displaying student responses to a patient case study in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a system and method for assigning and tracking healthcare students&#39; clinical educational requirements and competencies. 
     With reference to  FIG. 1 , an exemplary medical information system for implementing the invention includes a general purpose computing device in the form of server  22 . Components of server  22  may include, but are not limited to, a processing unit, internal system memory, and a suitable system bus for coupling various system components, including database cluster  24  to the control server  22 . The system bus may be any of several types of bus structures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, and not limitation, such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronic Standards Association (VESA) local bus, and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, also known as Mezzanine bus. 
     Server  22  typically includes or has access to a variety of computer readable media, for instance, database cluster  24 . Computer readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by server  22 , and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media, removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and not limitation, computer readable media may comprise computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media includes volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information, such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD), or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage, or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by server  22 . Communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and includes any information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media, such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media, such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of any of the above should also be included within the scope of computer readable media. 
     The computer storage media, including database cluster  24 , discussed above and illustrated in  FIG. 1 , provide storage of computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, and other data for server  22 . 
     Server  22  may operate in a computer network  26  using logical connections to one or more remote computers  28 . Remote computers  28  can be located at a variety of locations in a medical or research environment, for example, but not limited to, clinical laboratories, hospitals, other inpatient settings, a clinician&#39;s office, ambulatory settings, medical billing and financial offices, hospital administration, veterinary environment and home healthcare environment. Clinicians include, but are not limited to, the treating physician, specialists such as surgeons, radiologists and cardiologists, emergency medical technicians, physician&#39;s assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, nurse&#39;s aides, pharmacists, dieticians, microbiologists, laboratory experts, genetic counselors, researchers, veterinarians, students and the like. The remote computers may also be physically located in non-traditional medical care environments so that the entire healthcare community is capable of integration on the network. Remote computers  28  may be a personal computer, server, router, a network PC, a peer device, other common network node healthcare device or the like, and may include some or all of the elements described above relative to server  22 . The devices can be personal digital assistants or other like devices. Computer network  26  may be a local area network (LAN) and/or a wide area network (WAN), but may also include other networks including Internet networks via wired or wireless capability. Such networking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets and the Internet. When utilized in a WAN networking environment, server  22  may include a modem or other means for establishing communications over the WAN, such as the Internet. In a networked environment, program modules or portions thereof may be stored in server  22 , or database cluster  24 , or on any of the remote computers  28 . By way of example, and not limitation, various application programs may reside on the memory associated with any one or all of remote computers  28 . It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used. 
     A user may enter commands and information into server  22  or convey the commands and information to the server  22  via remote computers  28  through input devices, such as keyboards, pointing devices, commonly referred to as a mouse, trackball, or touch pad. Other input devices may include a microphone, satellite dish, scanner, or the like. Commands and information may also be sent directly from a remote healthcare device to the server  22 . Server  22  and/or remote computers  28  may have any sort of display device, for instance, a monitor. In addition to a monitor, server  22  and/or computers  28  may also include other peripheral output devices, such as speakers and printers. 
     Although many other internal components of server  22  and computers  28  are not shown, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that such components and their interconnection are well known. Accordingly, additional details concerning the internal construction of server  22  and computer  28  need not be disclosed in connection with the present invention. 
     Although the method and system are described as being implemented in a WINDOWS operating system, operating in conjunction with an Internet-based system, one skilled in the art would recognize that the method and system can be implemented in any system supporting the receipt and processing of genetic test results. As contemplated by the language above, the method and system of the present invention may also be implemented on a stand-alone desktop, personal computer, or any other computing device used in a medical environment or any of a number of other locations. 
     With reference to  FIG. 2 , a method for assigning competencies to a healthcare student  200  is provided. At block  202 , a request to access one or more healthcare student records is received. Healthcare students include nursing students, nurse&#39;s aide students, allied and professional health students, medical students, continuing education healthcare students and any other healthcare student that must complete clinical healthcare as part of their education. The request received is from a faculty member, instructor, or student or anyone else who needs and is allowed access to the healthcare student&#39;s record. At decision block  204 , it is determined whether the user seeking access to the student&#39;s record has security to access the record. In this embodiment, the system is structured so that only certain faculty members, and the student whose record is being accessed, have security to access the record. This protects the student from having his academic record made public. In an alternative embodiment, security is not required. 
     If, at decision block  204 , it is determined that the user requesting access does not have security, the system continues at block  206 . If, at decision block  204 , it is determined that the user has security to access the student&#39;s record, at block  208  a unit of academic time for the student is received. A unit of academic time represents a particular faculty member teaching a class, the location where a class is being taught, the clinical course the student is to complete, or the academic level for a student. For example, for academic time representing a student&#39;s academic level, a first year nursing student is assigned a different academic unit of time from a second year nursing student. An example of location of a class is a clinical rotation such as ICU rotation. 
     At block  210  competencies based on the unit of academic time for the student are assigned. For example, the assigned competencies for a first year nursing student would be different from the assigned competencies for a second year nursing student. Exemplary competencies include physical assessments by body system, procedures such as tracheotomy care, foley catheter insertion, starting intravenous lines, dressing changes, chest tube suction etc, physical patient care such as, bathing, mouth care, bed making, and clinical or educational curriculum requirements for healthcare students. An appropriate table or database for the unit of academic time is accessed to determine the appropriate competencies to be completed by the healthcare student. At block  212 , the competencies assigned to the student are stored in the student&#39;s academic record to be completed. 
     In an alternative embodiment, competencies are assigned to the student manually by a user selecting one or more competencies from a list or adding particular competencies. A list of possible competencies may be accessed from a table or database. A faculty member selects the competencies to be completed by a student or group of students. The assignment of competencies based on a unit of academic time for the student may be combined with manual assignments of competencies. The competencies assigned to the student are stored in his/her academic record to be completed and stored as part of the student&#39;s permanent record. 
     With reference to  FIG. 3 , a method  300  for determining what competencies a student has mastered is shown. At block  302 , a request to access one or more healthcare students&#39; record is received. At block  304 , it is determined whether the user seeking to access the student&#39;s record has security. If the user does not have security at decision block  304 , the system continues at block  306 . If the user has security to access the student record, the system proceeds to block  308 . 
     At block  308 , the student&#39;s record or portions of a student&#39;s academic record are displayed. The display of the student&#39;s record may include completed competencies, competencies that need to be completed and CPR certification verification. At block  310 , documentation of competencies completed is received. For example, a faculty member or instructor may enter into the system that a student has completed a particular competency. Alternatively, information relevant to one or more competencies is received from documentation clinical care given to patient in a patient&#39;s electronic record. If a student is on a clinical rotation treating a patient and information is documented in a patient&#39;s electronic medical record, this competency information can be sent to the student&#39;s academic record to satisfy particular pending competencies. The faculty or clinical instructors can view this assessment and plan of care to evaluate how well the student mastered the competency. 
     Alternatively, information relevant to one or more competencies is received from clinical care performed on a simulated patient or SIMMAN. SIMMAN is a computerized manikin programmed to simulate a number of physiological conditions requiring the student to define and perform interventions to treat the problem. The system is interactive and records the outcome for the patient and immediate responses are given to the student. An example includes when a patient shows an indication of pain, the manikin displays breathing discomfort just as a real person would in the given situation. Data from the SIMMAN exercises can be interfaced to the student&#39;s competency record. For example, the student my take vital signs, heart and lung sounds, neurological checks and these data can be interfaced to the instructional clinical information&#39;s system for a complete record of the student&#39;s clinical skills performance. Thus, while performing clinical care, information about how the student is performing is generated. Since this information may be sent from the simulated patient or SIMMAN to the student&#39;s academic record to satisfy competencies that need to be fulfilled by the student, it serves to chronicle students&#39; longitudinal competencies and assists faculty in tracking completion and total competencies. For example, if a student performs proper CPR on a simulated patient or SIMMAN, this information is sent to the student&#39;s academic record to satisfy the CPR competency requirement for detailed information. 
     In some instances, multiple tasks makeup a particular competency. For example, tasks for a sterile procedure competency include surgical scrub and glove, sterile field, IV site/dressing, and conversion of continuous IV to saline lock as shown in  FIG. 8 . The system will determine a competency score of a number of tasks completed by a student at block  312  of  FIG. 3 . This uses logic or rules to weigh tasks and determine score. Some competencies are not made up of multiple tasks and documentation completion means the competency has been mastered. This block  312  is optional. 
     At decision block  314 , it is determined whether the competency has been mastered. This may be based on the calculated competency score or the fact that a competency has been documented as completed. If, at block  314 , it is determined that the competency has not been mastered by the student at block  316 , the competency is stored in the student record as pending and still requires the student to master the particular competency. For example, if the competency score for a particular competency does not meet a minimum score based on rules in the system, the system will generate a new request for the competency, keeping the current competency score in the record. With this new request, the student will still be required to complete the competency. If, at decision block  314 , it is determined that the competency is mastered at block  318 , this is stored as completed in the student record. 
     With reference to  FIG. 4 , a method for receiving and displaying student input on a healthcare case study  400  is shown. At block  402 , a request for a case study is received. A case study is a clinical example that allows students to use critical thinking skills to determine the appropriate assessment to be done, define the problem for the patient, and create an individualized plan of care for the fictitious patient. In a case study, students can implement a plan of care for the fictitious patient. At step  406 , the case study is displayed to the requestor. At block  408 , inputs from students regarding the case studies are received. At block  410 , the student entries for the case study are displayed to faculty in real-time so that faculty member or instructor can view the student&#39;s entries into the case study immediately and evaluate the student&#39;s performance in the classroom. 
     With reference to  FIG. 5 , a screen shot showing an exemplary student activity list  500  is shown. A list of fictitious healthcare students  502  is displayed. Furthermore, a column showing whether a student has any competencies that are overdue  504  is shown. If the student has overdue competencies, there is an indicator in the overdue column. For example, fictitious student Stephanie Ho has an indicator in the overdue column showing that she has one or more competencies that are overdue. A faculty member can easily see which students have overdue competencies and schedule the student to complete the overdue competencies. 
     With reference to  FIG. 6 , a list of overdue competencies for a fictitious student  602  is displayed. This screen is accessed by selecting the indicator of overdue competencies from  FIG. 5 . The list of overdue competencies shows the overdue competencies for fictitious student Stephanie Ho  602  including CPR certification  604 , staple/suture removal  606 , and the sterile procedure competency  608 . Overdue competencies selected from the overdue list display more information about the overdue competencies and allow a faculty member or instructor to document the completion of particular competencies. 
     With reference to  FIG. 7 , documentation of CPR certification competency  702  for a patient for fictitious student Stephanie Ho is shown. In most instances, CPR certification must be verified before the student can begin a clinical rotation. Information entered into the CPR certification competency screen includes that the CPR certification has been checked  704  and the CPR expiration date  706 . An instructor can easily see if a student is CPR certified. Thus, a student who is not CPR certified can be identified and cannot administer clinical care. 
     With reference to  FIG. 8 , if the overdue competency for sterile procedure  608  is selected from  FIG. 6 , documentation screen for the sterile procedure competency  802  is displayed in  FIG. 8 . A sterile procedure competency requires four tasks to be completed. These exemplary tasks are surgical scrub and glove  804 , sterile field  806 , IV site/dressing  808  and convert continuous IV to saline lock  810 . Based on the number of sterile procedure tasks that have been completed, a sterile procedure score  812  can be calculated. For example, fictitious student Stephanie Ho received a sterile procedure score  812  of  90 . If the student&#39;s score is passing, it will be documented in the student&#39;s academic record that the student has mastered the Sterile Procedure Competency. Rules may be built into the system to determine the minimum competency scores for particular competencies needed to pass. 
     With reference to  FIG. 9 , an electronic note that can be placed in a student&#39;s file is shown. For example, fictitious student John Jones  902  has a note in his file submitted by fictitious faculty member Judith Warren  904  representing a prototypical faculty member. The note may be regarding the curriculum or any other communication with students and between students and faculty. The note is stored in the student&#39;s academic record. 
     With reference to  FIG. 10 , clinical competencies being manually assigned from a list of competencies for a fictitious healthcare student  1000  are shown. For example, a faculty member can select a student&#39;s name and an appropriate set of competencies to be completed for the unit of academic time (e.g. clinical course enrolled). For example, clinical competencies that must be completed for this particular academic unit of time include CPR Certification Verification  1002  and Competence Skills Assessments  1004 , such as GI-GU, hand washing, injectable medication, laboratory, physical patient care, staple, suture removal and sterile procedure competencies. 
     Referring next to  FIG. 11 , competencies to be completed by a healthcare student  1102  are shown. Students and faculty with the necessary security clearance can access the student&#39;s academic record  1100  and discover those competencies  1104  not yet completed. Each competency on the list  1104  has a date and time associated with it. When the student arrives in the clinical learning laboratory, they can look at the list to determine what competencies  1104  have not yet been completed. The list may also be filtered to show only competencies that are overdue to be completed. 
     With reference to  FIG. 12 , competencies that have been completed  1200  by a student  1202  are displayed. A list of competencies completed  1204  by the fictitious student  1202  are listed along with the date and time of completion. 
       FIG. 13  is a screen  1300  displaying a case study for a fictitious patient  1302 . Healthcare students can review the case study  1304  and determine what care should be provided to the patient. Students&#39; work on the case study patient is visible in the screen  1300 . Faculty members can view each student&#39;s record with respect to the case study in sequence. 
       FIG. 14  is a display  1400  of all students&#39; responses to a patient case study  1402  in a class. During class, students chart and make entries regarding the class case study. A faculty member can view all of the students&#39; responses and provide immediate feedback. For example, if a student has entered that there are no pain-associated symptoms  1406 , the faculty member will be able to see this entry and point out to the class whether there are indeed pain-associated symptoms in the patient case study. This way the students&#39; are provided immediate feedback. 
     The present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments, which are intended in all respects to be illustrative rather than restrictive. Alternative embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art that do not depart from its scope. Many alternative embodiments exist, but are not included because of the nature of this invention. A skilled programmer may develop alternative means for implementing the aforementioned improvements without departing from the scope of the present invention. 
     It will be understood that certain features and sub-combinations of utility may be employed without reference to features and sub-combinations, and are contemplated within the scope of the claims. Not all blocks listed in the various figures need to be carried out in the specific order described.