HealthStream: An Overview and Guide to Your Online Education
Carol Luppi BSN, RN, ALM Center for Nursing Excellence
The Department of Nursing (DON) transitioned its online Learning Management System from Medcom T3 to HealthStream in 2007. In the past five years, we have progressively expanded our use of HealthStream features to improve the provision and online tracking of education and professional development at BWH. In fiscal year 2010, the remainder of hospital employees transitioned from a paper process to HealthStream. Now, all employees’ core regulatory courses are assigned and tracked on the HealthStream Learning Center.
There are three tiers of education that are assigned to DON staff: hospital-wide regulatory courses; Department of Nursing required courses; and unit-specific courses.
Hospital-wide Regulatory Courses
Courses that are assigned to all hospital employees are determined by the BWH Mandatory Education Committee and managed by the Department of Educational Technologies. Laura Mylott, PhD, RN, executive director of The Center for Nursing Excellence (CNE), represents the DON at this committee. Answers to questions regarding these courses can be found on the BWH HealthStream FAQ site at http://sharepoint.partners.org/bwh/healthstream. You may also open a Help Desk ticket. Anne-Marie Shipley, program manager of the Department of Educational Technologies, or a representative from BWH Educational Technologies will follow-up on any questions not immediately answered by the Help Desk.
Department of Nursing Annual Education Requirements and Unit Specific Courses
Staff from the Center for Nursing Excellence collaborate with the Quality Department and the unit-based nurse educators to create recommendations to the Nursing Executive Board regarding DON annual education requirements.
Unit based nurse educators, directors and CNE staff work together to create customized courses to meet the specific education needs of each practice area. Any nurse or nursing leader may contact Carol Luppi for consultations regarding the creation of an online course for their area. Advanced Practice Nurses (APRNs) are assigned their hospital-wide education by the Department of Educational Technologies on a separate HealthStream site mirroring a process used for physicians and physician assistants.
Documentation of Attendance and Registration
Most Department of Nursing classroom education offerings use HealthStream for registration and documentation of attendance, evolving over the last year from a paper-only process. You may be asked to show the barcode on the back of your BWH ID badge at your next education class for this reason. Both Easy Scan and Opticon companion scanners have been used to streamline the documentation of attendance at competency sessions, central orientation, Nursing Grand Rounds and the Discharge Module classes. In the past year, we have begun using HealthStream for documentation of attendance at various other educational offerings, too. Please contact Carol Luppi if you would like an educational offering recorded and placed on HealthStream.
Off-Campus Education
Nurses can now enter their own educational offering attendance that occurred off campus in HealthStream. After accessing your transcript, you can click on the Add a Learning Event link to enter the pertinent information. This allows nurses to have a complete electronic record of their educational requirements and professional development courses.
Grand Rounds and Inservice Recordings
We have transitioned to a paperless documentation of attendance and provision of continuing education credits for Nursing Grand Rounds. Through a relationship with Educational Technologies, the Department of Nursing can place recordings of inservices and all grand rounds held in Bornstein Amphitheater on HealthStream. This allows nursing staff to view offerings at a time that is convenient for them.
In today’s practice environments, there are inherent challenges that prevent staff from attending live presentations. Modern technology affords an avenue to reach multiple staff who can engage and benefit from the knowledge transfer that occurs during Nursing Grand Rounds. Staff may view the recording and complete the evaluation on HealthStream for continuing education credit. Attendance for nurses will be documented in HealthStream when they complete their evaluation online, and they will receive continuing education credits.
As a reminder, staff must have entered their current license information in their HealthStream profile to receive continuing education credit. Screen shot documents are also available to assist you with this.