HOUSTON – Students attending the Nelda C. Stark College of Nursing at Texas Woman’s University, or TWU, will be able to employ technology in their curriculum as a result of a partnership the school has with Memorial Hermann Hospital System and VISICU.

With the integration of clinical informatics, patient simulators and VISICU’s eICU telepresence solution, students will have access to technology designed to improve the quality of healthcare.

“We need to be able to utilize what’s going on in the hospital in the academic world to better prepare our students,” said Anne Coleman, director of TWU’s Nursing Education Center.

She expects the technology will advance peer-to-peer learning and care guidance. “We’re expanding the use of technology based on our academic needs,” she said.

VISICU’s tools and products help ameliorate the lack of available personnel and the shortage of specialists in intensive care units by enhancing productivity and efficiency in the care of critically ill patients, said Martin Doerfler, MD, vice president for clinical operations for VISICU. The partnership of healthcare IT companies and schools to incorporate technology into the curriculum “certainly could be a trend,” he said.

Doerfler said the partnership addresses many fronts: the need for nurses to be better prepared in a more modern, real environment; the introduction of technology including telehealth and change processes in nursing education; and bringing patient simulators to nursing schools.

“I do expect some of the academic institutions incorporating some of these technologies into their nursing programs,” he said.

Students face a steep learning curve when they enter the job market, but adding technology to the curriculum will help ease the transition and enable them to come out “job ready,” Coleman said.