Elsevier acquires NurseSquared

NurseSquared Offers Hospital-Like Software Developed for the Educational Environment With Focus on Student Learning and Instruction

Elsevier (http://www.elsevier.com), the leading global publisher of scientific, technical, and medical information products and services, announced today the acquisition of NurseSquared (http://www.nursesquared.com) , the leading electronic health record (EHR) training product in the market that teaches students how to properly document using a simulated EHR. The NurseSquared training tool allows Elsevier to offer a more complete curriculum solution, including an EHR training tool, to academic customers.

"Simulation is becoming an important part of the overall health science curriculum and EHRs are being used increasingly in practice. In fact, hospitals are requesting that students become better trained on electronic documentation," said Sally Schrefer, Managing Director, Nursing and Health Professions for Elsevier. "A simulated EHR is an essential component of the comprehensive simulation experience."

NurseSquared provides a simulated EHR and charting system with embedded documentation scenarios that can be used in the classroom, SIM (simulation) Lab, or real-world clinicals. Although closely resembling a real live EHR with features similar to hospital software, NurseSquared is not an EHR, but rather is a product focused on teaching students appropriate documentation within an electronic health records system.

The product includes the following key features: - Hospital-like electronic documentation - Students learn to document electronically as they perform various patient assessments. - Care plan construction - Students are required to select appropriate nursing diagnoses and nursing actions that are related to specific medical diagnoses, and they must also add appropriate assessments and interventions for their individual patients. This module teaches the nursing process, critical thinking, and clinical judgment, as well as proper documentation. - "MyClinicals" - This module allows students to input their own patient assignments from clinical rotations and then appropriately document and chart the findings from these assignments. - Competency Assessment - Questions to test competency are integrated into the product. Answers can be shared with students in a study mode, or instructors can elect to have the student answers submitted and graded. Numerous extensive reports are available to faculty for further evaluation of student documentation skills and clinical judgment competencies.

"The acute shortage of clinical sites for nursing and health professions education has led to the need for simulation as a key component of the curriculum," said Renee Fransen, RN, BSN, Co-founder, NurseSquared, "Hospitals are asking nursing schools to better prepare students on clinical documentations while the government stimulus package is driving the need for health professions students to be trained on the use of clinical decision support systems and EHRs."

The acquisition is effective immediately and terms of the agreement are not being disclosed.