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Client: Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospitals
University Hospitals Health System
Project: Competency Evaluation Software
by Robert Chatburn, RRT,
Senior Director
Pediatric Respiratory Care
Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospitals
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Client Challenge
Maintaining competent staff is a vital activity for all
businesses. In the case of hospitals, staff competency evaluation
is mandated by the Joint Commission for Health Care Organizations.
In health care, competency is particularly important because
lives are at stake. Unfortunately, cost cutting efforts
within the health care industry have often made staff education
and testing a real challenge.
Project Scope
The respiratory care department at University Hospitals
of Cleveland is comprised of about 50 clinical staff members.
Staff have access to the hospital's intranet in all patient
care areas.While this makes it convenient to distribute
educational materials, we needed a custom solution for competency
testing and record keeping. Working with DeVore Technoloies,
we developed a software solution that addressed our needs
and made the most of our computing environment.
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Resolution
At the heart of the software program is a desktop database that
allows designated staff members to enter questions and answers
in a variety of categories. The questions can even have graphical
elements. Once a bank of questions has been accumulated, the
software will pick a random sample and generate an online test,
administered as a web based intranet application. The online
test can also be linked to a hands-on clinical skills review
administered by a staff member designated as instructor. Staff
members first perform the skills review then take the online
test at their convenience during a designated time period. After
the testing period closes, the software imports the online test
results into the desktop database. Next, the clinical skills
scores are entered. Finally, the program generates a variety
of reports that document test results and thus competency.
Developing and de-bugging this program took almost a year. DeVore's
consultants and programmers were very supportive during the
process. Their skill and experience made a complex project seem
easy. But their most critical contribution was in working with
our IT department to interface the desktop database with the
UHC intranet. Anyone who has tried to do this knows the value
of adequate skills and experience.
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