McBean gift will provide new technology at Newport campus
The Alletta Morris McBean Charitable Trust has awarded the Community College of Rhode Island $50,000 to purchase wireless laptop computers and carts to integrate informatics into the existing health sciences curriculum at the Newport County Campus.
Informatics is the science of information and the practice of information processing. Health care informatics connotes much more, as lives are saved and operating costs are reduced when nurses and health care professionals are trained to operate efficiently in modern, high-tech health care environments.
The federal government plans for most Americans to have an electronic health care record by 2014. In facilitating interaction and information-sharing among different health care institutions and providers, electronic health records will vastly improve the quality and efficiency of health care.
As phase one of the informatics implementation process progresses, the college has begun requiring all nursing and health science students to sit for electronic, Web-based examinations. The college also is shifting from paper patient care plans to electronic, e-mail-ready versions similar to those utilized in the clinical setting. Phase two will include instruction and experience with tutorial patient management software.
“The Alletta Morris McBean Charitable Trust has been a generous and longtime supporter of the college and clearly recognizes the importance and significance of the equipment necessary for the immediate and unilateral implementation of informatics for our nursing and health sciences students,” said CCRI President Ray Di Pasquale. “I am truly grateful for their support.”
Read about other contributors to Imagine: The Campaign for Endless Possibilities.
