Managing Clinical Programs with VSys
| Case Study | Managing Clinical Programs |
| Industry | Healthcare |
| Challenge | Hospitals need a way to manage students in clinical programs. |
| Who | This case study describes how a VSys client uses VSys One and VSys Live to onboard students into four different clinical programs: Nursing, Respiratory, Physical Therapy, and Medical Students. Each program has different processes and rotations. |
| Goal | By automating the student onboarding process the client was able to reduce time spent onboarding students and improve their ability to track students during this process. This has also improved the experience for students, as the onboarding steps can be easily seen and completed. |
| Solution | The volunteer management team had been using VSys One to manage volunteers since 2014. They noticed that there was a great deal of similarity between onboarding volunteers and students, so they reached out to the VSys team to inquired about the possibility of tweaking the volunteer management software to manage student clinicals. The team worked together with VSys staff to automate the student onboarding process by using custom onboarding checklists, known in VSys as eligibility checklists. First, a custom field for "Student Type" was created that allowed students to be assigned as their respect student assignment (MSU Medical, Nursing, Physical Therapy or Respiratory Therapy). The students were also designated a default person type "Education". This allowed them to segment their database between volunteers and students, as needed. This "Student Type" field also eliminated the need to create a separate application for each student type. Instead, all students complete the same basic application form. The first question on the application required the student to indicate their "Student Type". Using field visibility rules, students were prompted to complete the information required for their area of study depending on the "Student Type" they selected. This could be, for example, a different release form and needed to complete an outpatient form. This basic application for clinical positions requires students to input the following:
Agreement statements regarding confidentiality and standards of behavior were also included in the application. Students were prompted to read these and indicate they had done so by checking a box. The application requires a digital signature before the application is submitted. Upon submission a pop-up window appears thanking the student and an automated notification is sent to the Education Department requesting that the application be reviewed. Each time an application is submitted, the system creates a new person record within VSys One, assigning the applicant the active status of "New Web Applicant" and sets an application status of "Pending." The application and the documents uploaded with the application are then reviewed by the Education Department. The application is either approved or rejected; rejected attachments may require staff to follow up with the student to request the documents be resubmitted. Once all the required attachments are approved, the application status is changed to "Approved." Once the application is approved, an automated notification is sent to the student with instructions for signing into VSys Live to continue the onboarding process. The prior designation of "Student Type" continues to serve as a method of segmenting the student population and assigning onboarding requirements according to their field through the use of Intellilists. Intellilists are automated lists that use established filtering criteria to either add or remove names from the list. A unique Intellilists was created for each Student Type, omitting the need for staff to manually add students to their corresponding list. These lists are then used as criteria for the corresponding eligibility checklists designated for each Student Type. When the student logs into VSys Live, the checklist of required onboarding steps is displayed, which include links to action items that assist the student in submitting the necessary information or completing the required step (i.e., submitting an immunization record, completing a required training, etc). The Education Department is notified once the all the necessary documentation is uploaded for review. Automated reminder notifications are also sent to the student if a checklist is not completed within a certain timeframe or before the clinical is supposed to start. Students who complete their onboarding requirements in a timely manner are allowed to participate in the clinic experience. Their active status is changed to "active." The student then uses VSys to clock in and out of their clinical, following the same process used by volunteers when checking in and out for their shifts. This allows the system to capture their hours . At the conclusion of their clinical, the student's status is changed to "Inactive". This has the effect of locking the student out of VSys Live and preventing entry of any additional hours. Similar to how students were segmented from volunteers within the same system, the client also uses VSys to manage guest speakers. Guest speakers complete a simple online application, in which, once approved, allows the guest speaker to complete the speaker guest onboarding processes. This process required that they submit media release forms, speaker planning form, resume, a signed speaker agreement, and a conflict-of-interest form. This has omitted the back-and-forth emails and calls between the Education Department and guest speakers and presented a quality program to field professionals seeking to mentor students in their field of study. |
| Adaptations | This is one example of how a single VSys One system, coupled with a VSys Live site, can be used to serve the unique needs of various programs. This approach of segmenting students and guest speakers for the Education Development within an environment already housing volunteer information can be adapted for cases such as:
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