December 14, 2005 

An Update on ATHENS Project Activities

WE DID IT!   

I am in the final stages of completing the requisite 2005 Annual Performance Report to U.S. Department of Education, Title III and we have good news to share with them.  It includes data  from 10/1/04 - 9/30/05 which is the end of Year 3 of the grant:

·        23 faculty are using ATHENS EHR in an instructional capacity compared to 9

        faculty at the same time in 2004.

·        430 students have used ATHENS EHR in a learning situation compared to 0

         students at the same time in 2004.

·        20 courses involved the use of ATHENS EHR compared to 0 courses at the

         same time 2004. 

·        67 clinical case scenarios exist within ATHENS EHR for use with students

         compared to 6 clinical case scenarios at the same time in 2004. 

·        There is $52,135 in the Health Sciences Endowed Fund compared to $43,204

           at the same time in 2004.

With the persistent and enthusiastic efforts of the faculty involved, we have met and exceeded our goals in these areas.  Once again, KUDOS to each one of them! 

What is New in Fall 2005?

Faculty began using real clinical cases we built into the EHR over summer 05.

These “Pristine” cases are summarized in an Excel document distributed with this report for your information.   Special Note for those of you who worked with Christy May as she built these cases into EHR:   Christy gave birth to Conner Christian May in early November.  Christy, Jake, Alec and new brother Conner are all doing very well in their new home in Farmington, MN.

The Health Science Leadership course faculty used ATHENS EHR as the medium for distributing the interdisciplinary case studies to students engaged in that course.  

Nursing faculty began using SIM Man with their students and involved ATHENS EHR by first having the students do a case review in ATHENS EHR prior to working with  SIM Man and then having them document findings and impressions about the SIM Man clinical case in ATHENS EHR.  

Larry Birnbaum has built over 30 “Heart” case scenarios into ATHENS EHR for use with his students in the EXP’s cardiac related course work. 

Sally Fauchald is taking the lead on bringing the Graduate Nursing Faculty together to orient to The ATHENS EHR System and begin planning for ways to integrate it into their graduate courses.  We are scheduled to begin that orientation on January 25, 2006.   Happy New Year!

Evidence-based Clinical Practice and Best Practices Guidelines

Several Health Sciences faculty began meeting in Fall semester 05 to discuss ways that we could embed content into ATHENS EHR that would provide point-of-case access to quality clinical and health information; i.e. up to date evidence-based and best practice content, for students and faculty.  Faculty most involved to date include: Larry Birnbaum, John Dargan, Carolyn Dorfman, Lee Gustafson, Sandy Marden-Lokken, PZ Nielsen, Lynda Spangler, Linda Wagner and Vicki Zeman. 

As of the end of Fall 05 semester, the discussions have led us to select 6 URL links and they have been placed within The ATHENS Help Place, accessible from within ATHENS EHR by clicking on the globe icon.  Students and faculty can directly link from there to valid sources for obtaining quality clinical and health information.  

Getting the Word Out about The ATHENS Project:

Denise Wise was selected to do a presentation about The ATHENS Project during her recent People-to-People Exchange Program trip to Russia and Poland. 

Shirley Eichenwald Maki presented the Project at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions in Houston, TX in late October.

Shirley Eichenwald Maki also had an ATHENS Project e-Poster presentation at the Cerner User Conference in Orlando in late October. 

Patricia (PZ) Nielsen presented the Project at the Minnesota Nursing Informatics Group (MINING) in the Twin Cities ……and her presentation has led to some initial further discussions with another MN-based Nursing Program re: the possibility of using ATHENS EHR with their students through our new ATHENS Subscription Service offering. 

Janelle Wapola and Shirley conducted a hands-on ATHENS EHR session at the Northeastern Minnesota Health Information Management Association meeting which was held on campus in mid-November.

Carolyn Dorfman, Larry Birnbaum and PZ Nielsen are designated co-presenters in a presentation proposal which was submitted to MidWest EDUCAUSE which is scheduled for March 2006 in Chicago.  

Kathleen Thiede and Beth Donahue submitted a proposal for a presentation to North American Learning Resources Conference: Nurse Educators – “Nursing on the Move: Technology, Creativity and Innovation” scheduled for June 2006 at Villanova University in Philadelphia.   Just YESTERDAY we received word that the proposal has been accepted!  Kudos, Kathleen and Beth!

We are always looking for presentation venues…so let us know if you are aware of any presentation opportunities!

An ATHENS Subscription Service Update  

We have contracts out for review at two schools – one in Minnesota and one in Arizona.   As we are learning quickly….contract review and approvals within academic organizations take quite awhile to work through the system!  In any case, we beginning to work directly with their faculty in Spring semester 2006 to bring ATHENS EHR into one or more of their health professions’ programs.  Just YESTERDAY, we received our first signed contract from Phoenix College in Phoenix, AZ, one of the Maricopa Community Colleges! 

Spring 2006 ATHENS Course Plan:

To date these are the courses and faculty who are planning to actively use ATHENS EHR in their work with students in Spring semester 2006.   Best wishes and Thank You!!

Note:  if any revisions or additions to this are needed, please let me know ASAP, as well.  

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah as the case may be in your faith tradition.  Also have a wonderful break and entry in the New Year. 

Project Staff:

Shirley Eichenwald Maki

Project Director, The ATHENS Project

Tech Lead: Janelle Wapola

e-Forms Specialist: Sandi Thoreson

Clinical Data Abstractor:  Christy May through end of October 05 only

Project Leads:

CIS:     Thomas Gibbons

HIIM:    Madonna Le Blanc

EXP:    Larry Birnbaum

NSG:   Beth Donahue and Kathleen Thiede

OTH:   Carolyn Dorfman

PTH:    Lynda Spangler

SWK:   Lee Gustafson