University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Nursing

The School of Nursing at UNLV reduced paperwork and time spent on manual reporting for curriculum, faculty and site evaluations using eValue

When Elizabeth Gardner arrived in the administration office at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Nursing, they were still relying on legal pads, paper forms and spreadsheets. With over 350 students, graduate students, faculty, and administrators filling out countless reports and evaluations, tracking and organizing it all was unwieldy.

“The evaluations of students, faculty, sites and our curriculum are the grading system for our program,” said Gardner, who serves as Student Services Director at the School of Nursing. “The details we capture in our evaluations are critical for our success and accreditation. We needed a better way to manage it all and make it accessible.” Gardner and her colleagues selected eValue as the central repository to help organize and streamline program evaluations and data points.

Who, What, Where – Ready for Accreditation

UNLV has one of the most dynamic nursing programs in the country, and one of the largest with over 200 undergraduates, and nearly 120 graduate-level candidates. There is a steady stream of requests for various program details. The most common requests include student demographics, immunization records and site rotation schedules.

“eValue gives us quick insight into the makeup of our student population and also tells us how they are doing in our degree programs,” said Gardner. “Our deans and faculty members naturally want to know about activities and results. And so do accreditation teams… The eValue system gives us exactly what we need for ongoing accreditation reporting,” said Gardner. “Our reporting is much easier and faster, and the information is better.” Accreditation teams look for evidence of systems and metrics that indicate program performance. eValue makes it easy to capture that information and extract it on-demand. “Accreditation teams have been very pleased when we show them how we manage coursework and evaluations through eValue,” said Gardner. “Simplifying accreditation has been a big win for us.”

Evaluation Access – Anywhere, Anytime

Gardner is the primary guardian of nursing student success information and program performance. She admits that without the eValue system she’d probably need another 1-2 full-time assistants to collect and manage all the necessary documentation. Another big benefit of the eValue system is that anyone with preauthorized permission in the School of Nursing can gain access and update their files. “Staff, faculty and students can work in eValue anytime they like, and access what they need, when they need it,” said Gardner. “It’s easy for them to update time and skills logs, immunization records, and site rotation evaluations, whether they are on our campus or not.” Evaluations at UNLV are required for a variety of events including mid-terms, finals, clinical site assessment, clinical site faculty, and courses. Preceptor evaluations are also part of the process.

Sites and Affiliations: A Place for Everyone, and Everyone in Their Place

The sites and affiliations capabilities of eValue allow administrators to better manage clinical sites and corresponding affiliations by capturing and organizing site details and contacts. “We have students and faculty spread out over dozens of locations,” said Gardner. “eValue allows us to track field training experiences so we know where everyone is located and how the experience is going.” Gardner says school leaders and faculty need to know which site rotations are working well and which ones need attention. “We want to teach and train the best healthcare professionals we can, and not spend excessive amounts of time on basic administrative functions,” said Gardner. “Producing great healthcare professionals is our core mission, and eValue helps us stay focused on that, and it gives us the information we need to do it even better.”