Benefits of Electronic Data and Documentation Tracking Systems in Clinical/Practicum Programs

Many areas of business, including education, are pushing for increased efficiency in day to day practices. Yet, a large number of nursing programs with clinical components still rely on faxed or emailed documents to demonstrate compliance with pre-clinical requirements and hard copies of timelogs and evaluations from preceptors. These documents require additional time for processing and permanent filing once they have been submitted to University faculty and staff. In an effort to increase the efficiency of clinical processses, Kaplan University Graduate Programs have implemented an electronic data and documentation tracking system. This system allows students to upload all pre-clinical requirements to the system and allows for staff review and approval of those documents within the same system. Further, the system allows for students to track all clinical hours and for those hours to be electronically approved by the preceptor and logged in the system in real-time. Evaluations for preceptors and students are also completed electronically within the system. All of this information is readily available to individuals who have been granted access to the system. The nature of the electronic records additionally allows for easy reporting on metrics related to these courses and the ability for students to pull documentation of their hours and learning for use when seeking jobs after graduation. The system also allows for easy messaging to students, preceptors, and clinical sites and document storage. All of these features yield a single system with efficient means for communication, data tracking, document storage, and reporting by University staff, faculty, and students, as well as site preceptors.

This presentation will demonstrate how an electronic data and documentation tracking system could be beneficial in a nursing program and will show how data collection and tracking, communication, and reporting could be made more efficient through the implementation of an electronic system.