Data mining results from an electronic clinical log for nurse practitioner students

Abstract

Traditional techniques for collecting data on clinical experiences have been greatly flawed. Data cannot be easily collected in real time to make programmatic or placement changes "on the fly". Furthermore, it is difficult to look at data across students, specialty areas, and years because the data is typically not in a digital format. In response to this problem, the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing has created a web/PDA based clinical log to document the kinds of clinical experiences the students are having. Since our initial report, three years ago, we have collected three years worth of data, over 220,000 different patient encounters. This past year the data has been very complete, giving a full picture of the types of experiences the students are having. Our faculty have begun to analyze the data in the clinical log to examine the kind of experiences the students are having and to make programmatic changes and placement adjustments in real time. In general, the results supported that students in the various specialties managed patients and performed services appropriate to their specialty. Patients varied in ages, ethnic groups, payment sources, and medical diagnoses. Students did progress from an observer role to a more independent role in either a linear fashion or in a more biphasic mode with an increase in the observer role at the start of a new semester.