At-A-Glance Facts
Organization:
The Nursing Department at Pensacola State College in Florida offers associate and bachelor’s degrees in nursing. Other programs include practical nursing, LPN to ADN, paramedic to ADN, and an advanced certificate in perioperative nursing for RNs without experience in the specialty.
Details:
SimChart helps students learn how to document in an electronic health record, which promotes their critical thinking skills, and provides instructors with the opportunity to integrate various tools, such as case studies, into their students’ learning experience.
SimChart “is part of all the clinical components in our program, starting from the first semester,” says Angela Sanders MSNEd, assistant professor of nursing at Pensacola State College. “SimChart builds on the wonderful features we loved about NurseSquared.”
Filling the Documentation Gap
Pensacola State College’s (PSC’s) Department of Nursing began using SimChart in January 2012. Sanders says the purpose remains the same: “We see SimChart as a tool for integrating nursing informatics into the curriculum and allowing students to practice documenting in the electronic health record.”
Sanders says SimChart replaces what had been missing in the clinical area — the ability to document. “Hospitals are hesitant to give students access to their electronic health record for various reasons.” SimChart fills the gap and allows students to document thoroughly and accurately. Because SimChart was developed for students, they learn at the same time. “In fact, our students no longer document on hospitals’ medical records, a change hospitals welcomed. They have told us SimChart is a wonderful product for our students,” Sanders says.
Integrating Into the Curriculum
SimChart is integrated into Pensacola State’s curriculum. “Students use it in the lab setting when they are learning new skills so they can begin practicing to document, they use it in simulations, and they use it in the clinical setting when they are taking care of actual patients,” Sanders says. In the case of “real patients,” safety filters prevent HIPAA violations by not allowing students to enter a patient’s full name or other identifying information.
Sanders finds that SimChart’s features provide a realistic experience for students. For example, she says the case studies that Elsevier provides are “well thought out.” Care Plans generate check boxes based on the nursing diagnosis the student selects. “Students don’t have to hunt and peck through many lists,” she says. “It makes it an easy tool students use to develop care plans” and help them better understand the nursing process.
Promoting Critical Thinking
Sanders says an important advantage of SimChart is that it helps students “build critical thinking skills and clinical judgment.”
“The information is integrated, so it prompts students to think,” Sanders says. For example, when a student selects “urine” from a screen related to patient “output,” the next screen asks what the urine looks like. Students then start to how various assessment findings affect patient care. If a student selects an entry outside of normal values, Sanders says SimChart gives a message along the lines of, “Are you sure this is what you want to document because this is outside the normal level,” which makes students “stop and think, ‘Maybe this is something I should be concerned about.’”
Implementing Simchart
Sanders advises nursing programs planning to implement SimChart to, “Allow time for training and develop a plan for how it can be effectively incorporated into the curriculum.” At first, faculty may want to use SimChart for teaching clinical documentation, and then move on to another aspect, such as case studies.
With each subsequent semester, faculty integrated the system deeper into the curriculum. “It’s something we’ve grown into,” Sanders says. She adds that consistency in how faculty members use the program is important to avoid confusion among students.
Praising a ‘Smart Program’
Sanders gives Elsevier kudos for SimChart’s quality. “NurseSquared was an excellent product to start with, and SimChart builds on that,” she says. “Elsevier stays on top of trying to make the product better.” That includes involving nurses in developing the program to ensure information is accurate. “They rely on those who use the product to help them build a better product,” she says. SimChart is compatible with both PC and Mac computers. “There are Smart Phones, and SimChart is a Smart Program,” Sanders sums up.