OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – A new program set to launch at the University of Oklahoma College of Nursing aims at helping to educate nursing and medical students about healthcare information technology and clinical informatics.

The university has contracted with Carlsbad, Calif.-based Medsphere for the Academic Incubator Program. Medsphere will provide its OpenVista Open Source electronic health records, as well as implementation and support services, at a reduced rate as part of the program.

The program will allow university faculty to develop simulated patient data in the EHR system for use in clinical courses, where students will practice documenting and retrieving data using the system. The nursing students will have an opportunity to make contributions to the overall solution and actively participate in EHR design and development.

"Using an actual electronic health record in undergraduate nursing courses will help us educate tomorrow's nurses on clinical information systems now in use at hospitals across the country and develop the healthcare informatics competencies they will need to practice in today's technology-rich environments," said Gary L. Loving, assistant dean of the Center for Educational Excellence at the University of Oklahoma College of Nursing. "The project is designed to educate healthcare practitioners in healthcare information technology. As one of the first to join this initiative, we look forward to working closely with Medsphere and the rest of the OpenVista community on continued development of the technology for use in academic settings."

Medsphere officials say the adoption of OpenVista at the education level can prepare students for later residency training. In the United States, more than 85 percent of VA 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 country will have some experience with VistA.

"Medsphere's Academic Incubator Program will make schools of medicine and nursing key players in developing the Healthcare Open Source Ecosystem and fundamental contributors to the improvement of healthcare nationwide. Students of medicine and nursing can make real contributions to modernizing the industry in which they will spend their lives," said Michael J. Doyle, president and CEO at Medsphere. "We are thrilled at the prospect of working with (the) University of Oklahoma and look forward to the contributions the university can make to the Ecosystem and the development of OpenVista."