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Most Loma Linda professors are in their 40s, 50s and 60s, which Nick believes is tied to the old-school approach to testing. "They didn't grow up with computers," she said. "We can't just say use technology. We have to provide education and encouragement."

To do just that, Nick heads a committee on technology at Loma Linda's nursing school. The group has monthly meetings on topics such as using Microsoft's PowerPoint program or posting a quiz online with software from the educational technology firm Blackboard.

Loma Linda nursing school professor Katty Joy French, Ph.D., MS, RN, said she's grown accustomed to letting students submit papers via e-mail. But she is skeptical of using Internet chat rooms and e-mail exchanges as a substitute for classroom learning. "I love teaching," French, 67, said. "It just seems like the technology cuts me off more than keeps me in touch."

The University of Kansas School of Nursing is one nursing program convinced that technology generally helps more than it harms. The school pioneered online classes in the mid-1990s, and even acted as the Internet service provider for students in southwestern Kansas. Now, it is at the forefront of integrating health informatics technology into a nursing curriculum.

Last year, the school began a pilot program with clinical information software firm Cerner to teach students with a simulated electronic patient record system.

Growing interest

Called the Simulated E-hEalth Delivery System (SEEDS), the technology enables students to conduct hypothetical case studies with software like that used in actual hospitals. It also lets students take advantage of an "expert database" that issues alerts based on information entered into the system and informs health care providers about the best practices for particular maladies. SEEDS helps students bloom as sharp-minded nurses, said Charlotte Weaver, Ph.D., RN, vice president and chief nursing officer at Cerner. "You help them quickly focus on what's important," she said. "They learn the critical thinking skills faster."

Helen Connors, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Kansas School of Nursing, agrees. According to Connors, the software prompted students to probe their professors as never before when given case studies. That's because professors' case studies didn't have as many data points as SEEDS called for. "The students were hungry for data," Connors said. "In the past, students hadn't asked any questions."

Cerner and the KU School of Nursing started their partnership partly in response to the now famous Institute of Medicine studies on error and waste in the U.S. health care system. The idea is that nursing students who graduate with a greater command of and appreciation for medical information technology can improve the quality and efficiency of health care.

Kansas City, Mo.-based Cerner isn't the only provider of clinical information systems. Other nursing schools train students on electronic medical records software as well, Weaver said. But she said the KU program stands out by offering students the ability to use the technology as they learn in their other classes.

That advantage doesn't come cheap: Weaver estimates it will cost a school of nursing about $150,000 to $200,000 per year to cover expenses that include Cerner's fee and the costs of technical personnel, training and computer hardware.

Even so, the SEEDS program appears to be taking root. This year, all students entering KU School of Nursing are enrolled in the program, and there is discussion about expanding SEEDS to other health care professional programs at the university.

Next year, The College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn., will begin implementing a clinical information system developed with Cerner in the school's five health care divisions: nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, exercise physiology and health information management. Another 15 or so universities are interested in sprouting some variation of SEEDS, Weaver said.

Typically, schools of nursing are behind the push-a phenomenon Weaver said is typical of the nursing profession and its focus on patient care. "Nursing really is the driver of a lot of initiative and innovation," she said. "Nursing [schools] tend to be more open to rapid change than medical schools."

Those behind the SEEDS program believe the availability of cutting-edge information technology in nursing education can help solve the nursing shortage, both by helping nurses work more efficiently and by attracting high school graduates who have a greater sense of technology's benefits than previous generations did.

KU School of Nursing student Ann Barrows, for one, is sold on injecting health informatics into the curriculum. Barrows, 22, took part in the pilot SEEDS program last year and continues to use the technology this year. Despite minor flaws with the initiative, such as an initial lack of Web access to SEEDS from home, the program helped teach her medical terminology and made the process of learning to assess patients less intimidating, she said.

Barrows said the majority of her friends graduating from nursing school are working in settings with electronic patient record systems. She's glad to be preparing for that world. "It's a great system," she said of SEEDS. "I'm going to be a better nurse for it."

Contact Ed Frauenheim at eefiv@ix.netcom.com