After reading this communication piece from our Clinical Team, you will understand why the Med Surg/Tele Combo and Telemetry Exams will no longer be available within NurseTesting (as of 7/9/2010) and that your profiles must be updated to reflect the changes.

We are excited about being able to present you with new and expanded options regarding our latest releases!  This new option will affect how you currently administer Med Surg/Tele Combo and Telemetry Exams.

The current Med Surg/Tele Combo and Telemetry will be removed from your exam library effective July 9th due to the recent 2010 Exam Releases.  In order to prevent unnecessary duplication in exam administration, we want to provide information to assist you with new exam recommendations.

Cardiac Telemetry/Cardiac Step-Down Population

The 2010 Cardiac Progressive Care Exam is appropriate for determining competency for the cardiac telemetry/cardiac step-down patient population.  This population would include those patients with a primary cardiac diagnosis i.e.: chest pain/rule out MI, cardiac catheterization, post stent replacements, pacemaker, etc.

For determining competency in the Cardiac Telemetry and or cardiac step-down, it is our recommendation to administer the:

•    2010 Cardiac PCU Exam (includes Pharmacology component)
•    Dysrhythmia Exam

Med Surg/Telemetry Combo Population

The Med Surg/Telemetry Combo patient population would include patients with a secondary cardiac diagnosis. i.e.: diabetes with a history of A-fib, bowel resection with history of CHF.

For determining competency in the Med Surg/Telemetry Combo arena, it is our recommendation to administer:
 

•    2010 RN Med/Surg Form A or B
•    Dysrhythmia Exam
•    2010 RN Pharmacology

Important Reminder

Any older versions of these exams that have previously been sent to caregivers will remain in the caregiver accounts.  Caregivers will be able to complete these exams at their leisure.  And, of course, the exams that were already completed will remain in their exams for documentation!  However, you will no longer have the ability to administer the Med Surg/Tele Combo or Telemetry exams from the "Send Exams" screen***

************Many clients have the old Med Surg/Tele Combo and Telemetry exams included in Exam Profiles.  These must be changed by July 9th or an "error" message will appear for your staff members.  Only administrators can make these changes.*************

Your profiles can be modified by following a few simple steps. For step-by-step assistance, check out the training video – “Creating Profiles”

For your convenience, the “Creating Profiles” training video can also be found in your NurseTesting account under the Help tab! Remember that for the protection of your account, only admins have access to updating profiles!

As the leader in providing valid and reliable competency assessment tools for healthcare professionals, we want to provide you with a brief overview to assist with implementation of the 2010 Cardiac Progressive Care Unit Exam.

2010 Cardiac Progressive Care Unit Exam

The 2010 Cardiac Progressive Care Unit Exam determines clinician competency based on the sub-acute patient population inclusive of the progressive care or step-down phase. The Pharmacology component has been integrated into this exam; therefore you will not need to administer a separate Pharmacology Exam.

However, you will need to administer the Dysrhythmia Version 2.0 Exam to determine competency for rhythm recognition, as the new Progressive Care Unit exams do not contain rhythm strips. Attempting to include the Dysrhythmia strips in the newer exams would have created a very lengthy exam for the applicant.

**** The 2010 Cardiac Progressive Care Unit Exam is available and
ready for sending from your NurseTesting account ****

Please let us know if there are any questions.  As always – we are happy to help!
 

High Point, NC (Vocus/PRWEB ) March 25, 2010 — Amistaff Healthcare Technology, Inc. – leader in healthcare competency – continues to raise standards of validated exam development with their NurseTesting.com service releasing the new Registered Nurse Medical/Surgical Exam and Registered Nurse Pharmacology Exam. Utilizing a new validation process never before applied to healthcare competency exams, hospitals and healthcare staffing firms receive access to exam content linked directly to specific job functions and requirements. Assisting with hiring and retaining the most qualified personnel for healthcare positions directly correlates to improving quality of patient care.

The new exams augment NurseTesting.com’s extensive exam library which follows standards set forth by The Joint Commission (a national healthcare standards organization). The new content validation process takes the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (1978) and applies them to the development of these assessments.

We are confident that with the use of our newly validated exams, a more accurate assessment of healthcare professionals will be available, empowering the employer to select the best candidate for the position, thereby improving the quality of care being delivered to patients across the country.

The two phase development process starts with an in-depth Job Analysis where Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) provide a series of ratings for key job/duties/tasks and specific knowledge, skills, and abilities expected of healthcare professionals on the first day of the job. Then SMEs develop a test plan and begin writing items for exams.

During both phases statistical data is collected and analyzed (i.e. inter-rater reliabilities and Angoff ratings) yielding final recommendations for which items to include in the assessments. The data collected affords the opportunity for assigning initial unmodified Angoff Cutoff Scores. Widely-used arbitrary cutoff scores leave hospitals and staffing agencies wide-open for adverse impact claims. Amistaff’s validation process helps minimize legal responsibility for hospitals and staffing agencies from the use of pass/fail cutoff scores.

Overseeing the implementation of the research and revision system, Chief Nursing Officer, James Ostmann Sr. RN, MBA, states, "We are confident that with the use of our newly validated exams, a more accurate assessment of healthcare professionals will be available, empowering the employer to select the best candidate for the position, thereby improving the quality of care being delivered to patients across the country."

Amistaff will continue utilization of this rigorous content validation process on future exams in an effort to provide high caliber pre-screening assessment tools for the healthcare industry. Implementing pre-screening standards aimed at hiring and retaining the best qualified healthcare professionals attests to facilities’ and staffing agencies’ commitment to improving quality of patient care.

About Amistaff Healthcare Technology – Amistaff Healthcare Technology was founded in 2004 as a healthcare staffing solutions provider. Amistaff creates products and services that help hospitals and healthcare staffing firms improve recruitment, retention and placement of caregivers. Amistaff includes a team of IT professionals, RN’s and former recruiters allowing Amistaff to base their products on an in-depth understanding of each client’s unique staffing requirements. All of the Amistaff products, including Prophecy Health, NurseTesting.com, and BlueSky Medical Staffing Software, are web-based solutions designed to simplify workflow and increase efficiency. Visit www.amistaff.com for additional information.

As the proven leader in providing valid and reliable competency assessment tools for healthcare professionals, we are pleased to announce the release of the following new exams and skills checklist:

• 2010 RN Med/Surg Exam
• 2010 RN Pharmacology Exam
• 2010 Med/Surg Skills Checklist

Suggestions for implementation and important reminders are as follows:

2010 RN Med/Surg Exam

The 2010 RN Med/Surg Exam is replacing our current Med/Surg Exam.  This is a new exam that determines clinician competency based on the general med/surg patient population.  This exam is inclusive of general disease pathologies along with provision of care familiar to the Med/Surg setting.  The Pharmacology component has not been integrated into this exam; therefore you will need to administer a separate RN Pharmacology Exam.

2010 RN Pharmacology Exam

The 2010 RN Pharmacology Exam is a new exam that is designed to determine clinician competency in the area of RN pharmacology.  This exam is inclusive of all vital components in the provision of care related to administration of medications and parenteral therapies.

*** Attempting to include the pharmacology components in the 2010 RN Med/Surg exam would have created a very lengthy exam for the applicant therefore these exams will remain as separate entities.

2010 Med/Surg Skills Checklist

The 2010 Med/Surg Skills Checklist is designed to correspond with the 2010 RN Med/Surg Exam and should be administered simultaneously with this exam.

Important Reminders

The old Med/Surg and Pharmacology exams have been replaced.  Any older versions of these exams that had been sent to caregivers  will remain in the caregiver accounts.  Caregivers will be able to complete these exams at their leisure.  And, of course, the exams that were already completed will remain in their exams for documentation!  But, you will no longer have the older version available for sending via the "Send Exams" screen.

*** Many clients have the old Med/Surg exams included in Exam Profiles. If you want the newly validated exams included in those profiles, you must change your profiles to reflect this. ***

Your profiles can be modified by following a few simple steps. For step-by-step assistance, check out the training video – “Creating Profiles”.

For your convenience, the “Creating Profiles” training video can also be found in your NurseTesting account under the Help tab! Remember that for the protection of your account, only admins have access to updating profiles!

As far as additional assessments, we are not through yet so stay tuned to NurseTesting for more great exams coming in 2010!

South Nassau Communities Hospital (SNCH) selected Amistaff Healthcare Technology’s Prophecy(SM) software as a complement to their comprehensive pre-screening assessment and hiring process. The Prophecy system compiles Behavioral, Clinical, and Situational Assessments into a comprehensive healthcare employment predictor. Implementing the Prophecy system ensures SNCH’s commitment to patient care by hiring the caregivers that best fit the SNCH values.

(Vocus/PRWEB ) February 18, 2010 — After a thorough search and business proposal process, South Nassau Communities Hospital (SNCH) selected Amistaff Healthcare Technology’s Prophecy(SM) software to use in addition to their comprehensive pre-screening assessment and hiring process. Implementing the Prophecy system ensures SNCH’s commitment to patient care by hiring the caregivers that best fit the SNCH values.

“The assessment tools provide the hiring manager and recruiter with valuable information to assist in ‘best selecting’ applicants for our vacant positions. The reports are user friendly and the interview questions provided are extremely useful during the interview process,” says Donna Pandolfi, RN, Director of Recruitment & Retention for Patient Care Services.

The assessment tools provide the hiring manager and recruiter with valuable information to assist in ‘best selecting’ applicants for our vacant positions. The reports are user friendly and the interview questions provided are extremely useful during the interview process

Prophecy’s three web-based assessment tools – Behavioral, Clinical, and Situational – test interpersonal competencies missed in traditional testing. The three assessments work together to create the most comprehensive employment predictor for the healthcare industry.

Prophecy Behavioral Assessments, powered by PeopleClues ™, utilize personality and attitude tests to measure cognitive thinking. The results capture behavioral characteristics that predict high performance, such as integrity and conscientiousness.

The Clinical Assessments encompass the extensive exam library of Amistaff’s own NurseTesting.com. The comprehensive library provides testing solutions for more than just nurses. These clinical assessments include OSHA and Joint Commission mandatories, nursing and allied assessments, as well as clinical skills checklists.

Measuring a candidate’s skill level in the nursing and healthcare profession is more important than ever. Steps need to be taken to ensure that caregivers hold the latest skills and knowledge, as well as the critical thinking capabilities required of their positions. Prophecy Clinical Assessments identify caregivers with sufficient job knowledge to perform successfully by targeting the most important aspects of each clinical specialty.

Prophecy Situational Assessments identify caregivers with soft-skills directly correlated to successful nursing practice. Designed by industrial/organizational psychologists, four areas of critical workplace competencies are measured:

1) Interpersonal Competence
2) Workflow Management
3) Teamwork
4) Customer Service Skills

After viewing the video vignettes, the applicant selects their choices for the most and least effective responses. The answers demonstrate the manner in which the candidate responds to tough situations. Using Prophecy’s Situational Assessments, facilities are able to quantify which caregivers will make the most effective decisions in the workplace.

Amistaff looks forward to partnering with SNCH for on-site recordings of additional situational vignettes. The current collection of 25 assessments will be expanded to include the clinical specialties of Critical Care, Labor & Delivery, and Medical/Surgical.

About South Nassau Communities Hospital – South Nassau Communities Hospital is one of the region’s largest hospitals with 435 beds, more than 820 physicians and 2,700 employees. Located in Oceanside, NY, the hospital is an acute-care, not-for-profit teaching hospital that provides state-of-the-art care in cardiac, oncologic, orthopedic, bariatric, pain management, mental health and emergency services. In addition to its extensive outpatient specialty centers, South Nassau is a designated Stroke Center, boasts Long Island’s first and only Gamma Knife® and is one of seven hospitals in New York without an open heart surgery program permitted to perform angioplasty as an elective or emergency procedure. It is also recognized as a Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence by the American Society of Bariatric Surgery. For more about South Nassau, visit www.southnassau.org.

About Amistaff Healthcare Technology – Amistaff Healthcare Technology was founded in 2004 as a healthcare staffing solutions provider. Amistaff creates products and services that help hospitals and healthcare staffing firms improve recruitment, retention and placement of caregivers. Amistaff includes a team of IT professionals, RN’s and former recruiters allowing Amistaff to base their products on an in-depth understanding of each client’s unique staffing requirements. All of the Amistaff products are web-based solutions designed to simplify workflow and increase efficiency. These products include NurseTesting, Prophecy Health, and BlueSky Medical Staffing Software. Visit www.amistaff.com for additional information.

We are pleased to announce the first release of new exams for the 2010 calendar year!  Please use this information to assist with using these exams during your screening process.

2010 Trauma ICU

The 2010 Trauma ICU Exam is a new exam that determines clinician competency based on a critical patient population inclusive of all pathologies familiar to the Trauma ICU setting.  The Pharmacology component has been integrated into this exam; therefore you will not need to administer a separate Pharmacology Exam.

However, you will need to administer the Dysrhythmia Version 2.0 Exam to determine competency for rhythm recognition, as the new Critical Care exams do not contain rhythm strips. Attempting to include the Dysrhythmia strips in the newer exams would have created a very lengthy exam for the applicant.

This exam has a corresponding 2010 Trauma ICU Skills Checklist.

2010 Surgical ICU

The 2010 Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) Exam determines clinician competency based on the patient population inclusive of the critical post-operative phase. The Pharmacology component has been integrated into this exam; therefore you will not need to administer a separate Pharmacology Exam.

However, you will need to administer the Dysrhythmia Version 2.0 Exam to determine competency for rhythm recognition, as the new Critical Care exams do not contain rhythm strips. Attempting to include the Dysrhythmia strips in the newer exams would have created a very lengthy exam for the applicant.

***If you want the newly validated exams included in your profiles, you must change your profiles to reflect this. ***

Your profiles can be modified by following a few simple steps. For step-by-step assistance, check out the training video – “Creating Profiles”.

For your convenience, the “Creating Profiles” training video can also be found in your NurseTesting account under the Help tab! Remember that for the protection of your account; only Admins have access to modifying profiles!

We hope this will assist you in the implementation of these new exams!

Some wonderful questions have come into our Q/A box in Get Satisfaction about exams that incorporate a year in their titles (2009 General ICU Exam A).

So, we figured everyone would benefit from a little explanation of the purpose for including the years on the newly validated exams within NurseTesting.

The numerical year that precedes the exam title for the new competency exams and corresponding skills checklist denotes the year in which the validated exam and skills checklist was created.  The newly validated competency exams are continuously monitored for reliability based on ongoing statistical analysis and the skills checklist are reviewed annually to reflect relevant practice. 

As revisions and/or updates are made to the exams, the year will also change accordingly. So, continue sending the exams based on the content denoted from the exam name and disregard the year that starts the exam name.  This is basically in-house tracking for us and will allow you to know when the last updates were on the particular exams you are sending out.

Hope this helps everyone! We look forward to assisting you with your testing needs in 2010!

A recent article in the LA Times caught our attention here at Amistaff Healthcare Technology.  A very valid and present concern for the healthcare staffing industry was brought up in the article Temp Firms a Magnet for Unfit Nurses:

 “Firms that supply temporary nurses to the nation’s hospitals are taking perilous shortcuts in their screening and supervision, sometimes putting seriously ill patients in the hands of incompetent or impaired caregivers” (Weber et al, 2009).

What a claim to be made with the potential to cause detrimental effects on the already declining healthcare staffing industry!  

Unfortunately, the investigation conducted by the LA Times and ProPublica found significant instances where staffing firms “skimped on background checks or ignored warnings from hospitals about sub-par nurses on their payrolls. Some hired nurses sight unseen, without even conducting an interview” (Weber et al, 2009).

One reporter found that “firms hired nurses who had criminal records or left states where their licenses had been restricted or revoked. At least three firms employed a nurse in California whose license had been suspended in Minnesota for stealing drugs at a string of temp jobs. One used him after he’d been convicted of doing the same thing at a Santa Rosa nursing home” (Weber et al, 2009).

Unlike hospitals, staffing firms do not immediately see the effects of an unqualified or inept caregiver.  Hospitals entrust staffing firms with supplying caregivers to complete their workforce.  With hiring the primary focus of a staffing firm, hospitals assume that the firms have access to and effectively use industry leading pre-hire screening assessments. 

A well-known fact is staffing firms pay the bills by placing their employees.  Therefore, the possibility that firms knowingly place incompetent, unfit caregivers in hopes that they will not “mess up” is hard to ignore. 

In fact, the reports of this investigation found examples of this exact fear:

“Temp agencies shuffled errant nurses from one hospital to another, even as complaints mounted. A Culver City agency continued sending one nurse to hospitals despite more than a dozen warnings that she was ignoring her patients and sleeping on the job. Before she was hired, the nurse had been convicted of 12 crimes, including prostitution, carrying a concealed weapon and possessing cocaine” (Weber et al, 2009).

Although Amistaff does not believe that these types of behaviors are the industry norm, we do feel that hospitals and staffing firms alike need to keep their focus on hiring the most qualified caregivers that match the job specific needs of the openings.  The current nursing shortage makes this task more challenging than ever.

So, what can be done?

We recommend hospitals look into the pre-screening tools implored by their elect staffing firm(s).  Supplying onboarding procedures should be a relatively easy task for staffing firms as the process should not differentiate from one clinician to the next.
 
Also, staffing firms and hospitals alike stand to benefit from reviewing and perhaps restructuring their internal hiring process.

Amistaff’s newest, web-based assessment tool – Prophecy Health – tests interpersonal competencies missed in traditional testing. The Behavioral, Clinical, and Situational assessments work together to create the most comprehensive employment predictor for the healthcare industry.

Regardless of the assessments selected, Amistaff strongly advises the use of assessments that are frequently monitored for reliability and validity given the ever-evolving practices in the fast-paced industry.  And, Amistaff’s clients can rest assured that these precautions are taken by our clinical team to ensure we offer the most accurate and complete assessments for the industry.  

Check out how dedicated our clinical team is to this calling by the new development process our NurseTesting.com clinical assessments undergo in order to creating validated content!
 

Weber, T., Ornstein, C., & Schwartz, L. (2009, December 6). Temp Firms a Magnet for Unfit Nurses. The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-nurses6-2009dec06,0,1174984.story?page=1

About Prophecy – Prophecy is the aggregation of three assessment tools that work together to generate the most comprehensive employment predictor for the Healthcare Industry. Prophecy Clinical Assessments identify caregivers with sufficient job knowledge to perform successfully by targeting the most important aspects of each clinical specialty. Prophecy Behavioral Assessments identify caregivers with behavioral characteristics that predict high performance, such as Integrity and Conscientiousness. Prophecy Situational Assessments identify caregivers with soft-skills that are directly correlated to successful nursing practice. Learn more at www.prophecyhealth.com .

As the leader in providing valid and reliable competency assessment tools for healthcare professionals, we want to provide you with a brief overview for the 2009 Neuro ICU, 2009 Neuro Progressive Care Exam and 2009 Endoscopy/GI Lab exams to assist you with their implementation.

2009 Neuro ICU

The 2009 Neuro ICU Exam is a new exam that determines clinician competency based on a critical patient population inclusive of all general disease pathologies familiar to the Neuro ICU setting.  The Pharmacology component has been integrated into this exam; therefore you will not need to administer a separate Pharmacology Exam.

However, you will need to administer the Dysrhythmia Version 2.0 Exam to determine competency for rhythm recognition, as the new Critical Care exams do not contain rhythm strips. Attempting to include the Dysrhythmia strips in the newer exams would have created a very lengthy exam for the applicant.
 
2009 Neuro Progressive Care

The 2009 Neuro Progressive Care (PCU) Exam determines clinician competency based on the sub-acute patient population inclusive of the progressive care or step-down phase. The Pharmacology component has been integrated into this exam; therefore you will not need to administer a separate Pharmacology Exam.

However, you will need to administer the Dysrhythmia Version 2.0 Exam to determine competency for rhythm recognition, as the new Progressive Care exams do not contain rhythm strips. Attempting to include the Dysrhythmia strips in the newer exams would have created a very lengthy exam for the applicant.

2009 Endoscopy/GI Lab

The 2009 Endoscopy/GI Lab Exam determines clinician competency based on a patient population inclusive of procedures commonly performed in this Endoscopy/GI Lab. The Pharmacology component has been integrated into this exam; therefore you will not need to administer a separate Pharmacology Exam.

However, you will need to administer the Dysrhythmia Version 2.0 Exam to determine competency for rhythm recognition, as the new Endoscopy/GI Lab exams do not contain rhythm strips. Attempting to include the Dysrhythmia strips in the newer exams would have created a very lengthy exam for the applicant.

We hope this helps with the implementation of the exams.  Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday season!

We are pleased to announce the 2010 National Patient Safety Goals Exams are available for immediate implementation!

To continue in assisting you with your testing needs, we are releasing the 2010 NPSG exams specific for Nursing, Allied, and Non-Licensed Personnel. The following exams are now available and located in the Mandatory section of the exam list:

• 2010 NPSG (Nursing) – includes RN’s and LPN’s
• 2010 NPSG (Allied) – includes PT, OT, ORT, Radiology, Certified Medication Aides, CNA’s (licensed by state) and other Allied personnel that retain licensure.
• 2010 NPSG (Non-Licensed Personnel) – includes CNA’s (non-licensed by state), HHA’s, sitters and all other Non-Licensed Personnel.

The 2009 NPSG exams will still be available in your account until January 1, 2010.

***To use the 2010 NPSG exams via profiles, you must change your profiles to reflect this. ***

Your profiles can be modified by following a few simple steps. For step-by-step assistance, check out the training video – “Creating Profiles”.

For your convenience, the “Creating Profiles” training video can also be found in your NurseTesting account under the Help tab! Remember that for the protection of your account, only Admins have access to modifying profiles!

The 2010 NPSG will also be reflected in the new 2010 Core Mandatories that will be released this month!

We hope that these changes will assist you in your continued success for 2010!