Nasser Hammami tests the new digital equipment in The Clinical Education Center at The UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Searching high and low for working VCRs and video tapes has ended for the staff and students who work with the Clinical Education Center (CEC) at The University of North Dakota (UND) School of Medicine and Health Sciences. The facility, built in 2001, received a digital facelift recently replacing the old equipment, used to record and grade student interactions with standardized patients, with state-of-the-art digital recording, data, and storage. 

A necessity
The Clinical Education Center, located across Hamline Street from the School in Grand Forks, includes 16 exam rooms with one-way windows and recording devices in each. Students in the Doctor of Medicine degree program, the physician assistant program, nursing, and other medical studies use the exam rooms to practice and test their clinical skills. The students are recorded interacting with standardized patients, or actors portraying patients with certain medical conditions. Faculty members use these interactions to grade the students on their interviewing and examination skills.  

Before the recent upgrade, VCRs would record each session in the exam rooms.  

“The VCRs were not reliable,” said Nasser Hammami MS ‘06, MS ‘00, MS ‘98, chief information officer for the School. “It was failing on us in the last couple of years.”  

A committee of faculty members who use the CEC and those who maintain the system determined what the facility needed and heard proposals from the top companies supplying such services. The committee chose B-Line Medical, the number one clinical skills and simulation center solutions provider. The company’s other clients include Cornell University, Duke University, George Washington University, and Johns Hopkins University. 

Digital recording and distribution 
The software provided by B-Line Medical has two components: digital recording and distribution, and testing and assessment.

The system includes automated digital recording that is then stored in individual student files on a secure server. These recordings are completely Web accessible and are searchable by case, student, standardized patient, date, and more.  

“Digital recording has the advantage of allowing us to give 24/7 access to the students to view their recordings and to send the recordings to clinical faculty around the state for evaluation,” said Hammami.  

“Students will likely view it more than they would when they had to come up here and view a VCR tape,” said Jon Allen, MD ‘84, assistant dean of the School’s Northeast Campus in Grand Forks. “We’re trying to always get students to watch their own performance. When they watch their own performance, they get to spot their mistakes and see areas where they can make improvements a whole lot easier.”  

The new system uses the existing cameras in the exam rooms, but includes new microphones and a completely revamped viewing room. The facility’s climate control system was also upgraded to keep the new servers at safe temperatures.