Highlighting Faculty
Drs. Linda Wilson and Rocky Rockstraw - Help Faculty Adopt Technology
Drexel University is leading the nation in developing ways to employ technology in nursing education.
Asked about the school’s high-tech investments, Associate Dean for Nursing Dr. Mary Ellen Glasgow emphasizes results. “We realized that if we were going to educate enough students to counter the nursing shortage, we were going to have to be smart about it. “Our tech labs are designed to help students learn faster and better, and to help them enter confidently into a field that’s more technologically demanding than ever.”
Employers welcome these grads. Kim Delaney, Nurse Recruitment Manager at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, calls Drexel students “among the best and brightest . . . [their technological skill] shortens the learning curve.”
Led by an executive team—Dr. Wilson and Dr. Leland “Rocky” Rockstraw of CNHP, and a representative from each of the participating institutions—the faculty attend development sessions at each school.
Dr. Rockstraw explains that handheld computers, computerized manikins, standardized patients and online learning dominate the agenda, but faculty at each institution are encouraged to identify additional needs that merit focus sessions.
“In the past year, one school wanted to learn about clicker technology for classroom interaction. And we’ve helped people learn to manage email and other online services.”
Dr. Wilson outlines the big picture. “Our goal is to help the faculty adopt technology that suits their needs, and build it into their curricula. The nursing faculty at Howard University has been rewriting their entire undergraduate curriculum with new technologies to enrich student learning.”
Our goal is to help the faculty adopt technology that suits their needs, and build it into their curricula.
Dr. Rockstraw adds, “We’re not just sharing knowledge. We’re helping them build an IT infrastructure. They’re learning that they’ll need to provide classroom support if faculty members are going to really use computers and clicker technology.“
Does healthcare technology improve care? Only a few studies have closely examined the connection, but all confirm the Institute of Medicine’s 2001 report Crossing the Quality Chasm, which stated: “If we want safer, higher-quality care, we will need . . . technology.”
A study published in January 2009 the Archives of Internal Medicine analyzed data on 167,233 patients in 41 Texas hospitals, finding a clear correlation between the use of technology and “fewer complications, lower mortality rates, and lower costs.”
And every serious piece of healthcare reform legislation put forth in the last year cites technology’s potential to cut costs, improve care and reduce errors.
So what’s holding up our progress?
Harvard’s George B. Moseley identified one key factor in a 2005 symposium: although “a distinguishing feature of US health care is its reliance on medical technology,” we lack specially trained healthcare professionals.
Echoing Moseley’s concern, the IOM poses three major challenges, among them: “[to] redesign the way health professionals are trained . . . [and in particular] multidisciplinary teams.”
Drexel University has answered IOM’s call, leading the nation in developing ways to employ technology in nursing education. Asked about the school’s high-tech investments, Associate Dean for Nursing Dr. Mary Ellen Glasgow emphasizes results.
“We realized that if we were going to educate enough students to counter the nursing shortage, we were going to have to be smart about it.
“Our tech labs are designed to help students learn faster and better, and to help them enter confidently into a field that’s more technologically demanding than ever.”
Employers welcome these grads. Kim Delaney, Nurse Recruitment Manager at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, calls Drexel students “among the best and brightest . . . [their technological skill] shortens the learning curve.”
A key figure in the development of Drexel’s education technology resources, professor D r. Linda Wilson points to this track record as proof that the investment pays. In 2007 the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration affirmed her belief with a $1.6 million grant to replicate that success. “
Drexel graduated 382 BSNs in 2009,” reports Dr. Wilson, “but hundreds of nurses aren’t going to make much of a dent in the nursing shortage. We need thousands.”
PADCNETC—the Pennsylvania/District of Columbia Nursing Education Technology Collaborative—sends Dr. Wilson and a team of technology specialists to a trio of ambitious nursing schools eager to give students the latest education technology. “The schools we’re partnering with can create the same state-of-the- art training labs our students use.
“The program runs for five years, and we can add partners every year. We’ve been talking with several schools that want to join. But the best thing is, each of those partners can then transfer what they’ve learned to other schools. It’s a geometric progression.”
Community College of Philadelphia will disseminate to community colleges, Bloomsburg University to the Pennsylvania State University system, and Howard University to Historically Black Colleges/Universities.
The HRSA grant provides for some 35 to 50 nursing faculty members to “participate and receive training in program enhancing technologies each year.” But participate and receive training doesn’t begin to capture the excitement this project is creating.
Led by an executive team—Dr. Wilson and Dr. Leland “Rocky” Rockstraw of CNHP, and a representative from each of the participating institutions—the faculty attend development sessions at each school.
Dr. Rockstraw explains that handheld computers, computerized manikins, standardized patients and online learning dominate the agenda, but faculty at each institution are encouraged to identify additional needs that merit focus sessions.
“In the past year, one school wanted to learn about clicker technology for classroom interaction. And we’ve helped people learn to manage email and other online services.”
Dr. Wilson outlines the big picture. Our goal is to help the faculty adopt technology that suits their needs, and build it into their curricula. The nursing faculty at Howard University has been rewriting their entire undergraduate curriculum with new technologies to enrich student learning.”
Dr. Rockstraw adds, “We’re not just sharing knowledge. We’re helping them build an IT infrastructure. They’re learning that they’ll need to provide classroom support if faculty members are going to really use computers and clicker technology.“
He breaks into a grin as Dr. Wilson describes the impact. “The level of interest is amazing. Sometimes I wish we could bring back some of that excitement at Drexel. I think we have a tendency to take it for granted.”
Dr. Wilson nods. “I think we’ve also learned, or maybe relearned, how creative people can be. The [ PADCNETC] faculty have come up with very clever ways to incorporate new technologies at little or no cost.”
With a laugh, Dr. Rockstraw adds, “And you know what else I’ve learned? I’ve memorized the routes to Bloomsburg and [Washington] D.C. I have a new appreciation for people who spend a lot f time on the road. “But it’s worth it. Our partner schools are really excited, and their enthusiasm keeps me going.”
