Healthcare Technology Featured Article

August 29, 2012

HealthStream and NurseCompetency Partner to Test Nursing Skills


Nurses are in hot demand all across the country. Tapping into this need, HealthStream, a provider of learning and research solutions for the healthcare industry, has just today signed an agreement with Nursing Registry Consultants Corporation (doing business as "NurseCompetency") to be the exclusive distributor of NurseCompetency's Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), which tests nurses’ skills and clinical competencies.

 “The job market for nurses is one that graduates in practically any other field would be delighted with,” David Ranii reported.

HealthStream's suite of products include solutions for testing and documenting nurse’s clinical competencies. 

In today’s world of performance-based outcomes, hospitals feel the need to measure the clinical competencies of their workforce. And through NurseCompetency, HealthStream will offer more than 75 evidence-based exams on competencies that hospitals require of nurses, including critical care, psychiatric nursing, palliative care, magnetic resonance imaging, respiratory therapy, among many others.

The library of clinical exams will be expanded as HealthStream assists NurseCompetency in the development of new testing materials.

Along with clinical competency exams, the nurses will be tested on over 55 clinical skills checklists and self-assessments – covering endoscopy, oncology, magnetic resonance imaging, mammography and hospice, as well as the skills required for successful job performance. Progress will be tracked.

A poll conducted in May by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health found that 34 percent of patients hospitalized for at least one night in the past year said "nurses weren't available when needed or didn't respond quickly to requests for help."

Programs like HealthStream’s and NurseCompetency’s will go a long way towards solving that problem. 

The importance of nurses can’t be overstated. According to Debra Wood, R.N., “Researchers found that a higher level of registered nurse staffing save lives, shortens the lengths of hospital stays and creates an economic value of more than $7 billion annually, based on medical savings and increased patient productivity.”

Hence, it’s vital to measure nurse competencies with highly effective exams and checklists.

Future plans include offering the courses as an integrated solution through HealthStream's platform.




Edited by Jamie Epstein
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