Academic Incubator
As the federal government, healthcare leaders and informed consumers press for nationwide adoption of EHRs, colleges and universities have begun to recognize how important it is to introduce medical, nursing and other clinically oriented students to clinical information systems. To this end, a few forward-thinking medical and nursing schools are developing programs using academic applications of commercial clinical information systems (CIS).
To help these institutions build clinical informatics competency early, Medsphere offers schools of medicine, nursing and clinical informatics our OpenVista open-source electronic health record system, as well as implementation and support services, at a special academic rate. This Academic Incubator Program manifests Medsphere’s belief that early hands-on CIS experience will be increasingly important as these students become practicing clinicians. Medsphere will also be working with customers that are teaching hospitals and affiliated schools of medicine and nursing to evaluate OpenVista implementation and use in pursuit of the optimal path to adoption, automation and transformation.
Established in 2008, Medsphere's Academic Incubator has two primary goals:
- Promote clinical informatics education by giving medical, nursing and informatics students access in the classroom to the most widely deployed and proven electronic health record system available
- Improve healthcare nationwide by working with academic institutions to study EHR implementation and determine the best paths to successful adoption, automation and transformation
Simulated patient data
University faculty at a variety of institutions can develop simulated patient data in the OpenVista system for use in clinical courses where students practice documenting and retrieving data. Medsphere's OpenVista also provides students with several unique opportunities not available with traditional proprietary EHR vendors—students can contribute clinical best practices, templates and other valuable additions to this overall EHR solution and actively participate in the design and development of OpenVista going forward.
OpenVista helps prepare students for residencies
The adoption of OpenVista at the education level can also prepare many students for later residency training. For example, more than 85 percent of Veterans Administration hospitals are teaching hospitals and more than half of all medical students rotate through the VA each year. By the time they reach residency, about 65 percent of all physicians trained in the U.S. will have some experience with VistA. A growing number of healthcare organizations around the country are now live on OpenVista, which has its roots in VistA.
Medsphere's Academic Incubator program helps students gain experience and familiarity with a system they will likely use at some point during their training and later in hospital or clinic practice.
Academic Partners
Click here to access information on Medsphere's Academic partners.