South Dakota State University's College of Nursing Selects CareSpan for the Training of Nurses in Advanced Digital Health Care

Sioux Falls, South Dakota, January 20, 2016 (Newswire.com) - ​​​​South Dakota State University’s College of Nursing and CareSpan USA Inc. announced that the CareSpan™ Virtual Clinic has been selected to train new generations of nurse practitioners in digital health care delivery. This initiative helps to address shortages of primary health-care providers in remote and rural parts of the United States where nurses play a key role. The College of Nursing, which is now in its 81st year, is nationally recognized as a center of excellence for nursing education and leadership. CareSpan is the first online digital health care delivery system that meets the standards of an in-person exam by integrating patient-provider video telepresence, vital signs capture, medical images, heart/breathing sounds, ECG, e-prescribing, real-time specialist consultations, informed consents and electronic health records within a familiar clinical workflow.

“Nurses are able to serve in expanded primary care roles due to a variety of factors,” said Dean Nancy L. Fahrenwald. “A collaborative system like CareSpan is not only ideal for patient care because it is rich with medical information but also allows providers and students to realistically train within a complete interactive online exam rather than just within a rudimentary video conference. CareSpan is the only telemedicine system we have seen to date with these advanced clinical features.”

"A collaborative system like CareSpan is not only ideal for patient care because it is rich with medical information but also allows providers and students to realistically train within a complete interactive online exam"

Nancy L. Fahrenwald, Dean

“We are excited to be supporting the excellent nursing program at South Dakota State University and look forward to helping a new generation of nurses utilize digital medicine in remote care delivery,” said Dr. Terry Knapp, Chief Medical Officer of CareSpan. “We believe that nurses graduating SDSU with digital health skills and familiarity with the CareSpan platform will transform access to care, achieve greatly improved outcomes and become extremely valuable assets to health care systems around the world.”

JoEllen Koerner, senior vice president of clinical quality at CareSpan and former president of the American Organization of Nurse Executives, said “The initiative at SDSU with CareSpan is part of a critically important trend that enables nurses to meet the health needs of underserved communities regardless of time or distance. Overcoming these barriers with a complete online care delivery platform will help nurses achieve their full potential as professionals.”

CareSpan will be integrated into the SDSU College of Nursing curriculum in early 2016 and will allow simulated patient exams to occur between nursing students, patient “presenters” and instructors. Complete video screen captures of these simulated exams will allow review and discussion of care delivery methods and approaches using digital health technologies. The College expects that the program will be particularly attractive to nursing program candidates from Native American reservations seeking opportunities to work in health care.

About CareSpan USA Inc.

CareSpan is the only digital health-care system that meets and exceeds the standards of an in-person exam for care delivered over the Internet. Physicians and other providers enjoy lower operational costs, greater flexibility in clinician utilization and increased access to new patients. Insurers benefit from lower total care delivery costs with better case management. For patients, it’s access to high quality health care that is affordable and fulfills their expectation of care continuity regardless of their location. Visit  www.carespanhealth.com for more information.

About South Dakota State University

Founded in 1881, South Dakota State University is the state’s Morrill Act land-grant institution as well as its largest, most comprehensive school of higher education. SDSU confers degrees from six different colleges representing more than 175 majors, minors and specializations. The institution also offers 33 master’s degree programs, 15 Ph.D. and two professional programs.

The work of the university is carried out on a residential campus in Brookings, at sites in Sioux Falls, Pierre and Rapid City, and through SDSU Extension offices and Agricultural Experiment Station research sites across the state.

About the South Dakota State University College of Nursing

The College of Nursing promotes a combination of lecture and hands-on experiences that teaches students to practice nursing with expertise, professionalism and a passion for helping others. It bases lecture curriculum on the meta-paradigm of nursing, which includes the concepts of client, health, environment and nursing. Students also receive a variety of hands-on learning experiences with in-simulation laboratories and clinical requirements. In addition, research opportunities are available for both undergraduate and graduate students. The program has an 80-plus year history of delivering a well-rounded, quality nursing education and it’s baccalaureate, master's and DNP programs are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. For more information, visit http://www.sdstate.edu/nurs/.