Offering a Collaborative Network for Clinical Placements
Situation:
As the nation’s aging population increases demand for health services, hospitals search for ways to fight workforce shortages and replace their also aging clinical workforce. Enrolling more students to become trained caregivers could assist with the shortage, but a number of long-term stresses on the clinical education system prevent schools from preparing enough students to meet future needs.
Often, administrative duties steal precious time away from educators. Manual processes are cumbersome and slow the overall pace of progress. The coordination effort involved with student placements in clinical settings is taxing to both educators and healthcare providers.
Michigan Health Council (MHC), a nonprofit organization committed to connecting healthcare professionals and employers in Michigan, developed a program called ACE Passport (Alliance for Clinical Experience) in partnership with Adayana. The program’s goal was to provide a novel approach to collaboration with hospitals and educators to bring greater efficiency for each.
Solution:
ACE is designed as a passport that provides certification information for all healthcare providers prior to any student engaging in a clinical rotation. The program involves technology-enabled support for the most time-consuming activities including compliance training, background checks, health screening, and other important requirements prior to student placements. The online portal also serves as a focal point of contact for students, schools, and hospitals, facilitating placement of certified students into clinical rotation programs.
The online system continually updates student information and clinical opportunities, reducing the lag-time associated with previous manual administration. Hospitals can see which students are ready for immediate placement and are certain that they are certified for their patient-care assignment.
Success:
The ACE program has helped qualify and place more than 5,000 students from 17 Schools of Nursing in its first year of operation. As students attend their second, third and fourth clinical site, administration has been streamlined by eliminating the redundant re-processing of each student.
