Mercer University Goes from Excel to Excellence in Tracking Clinical Hours
Mercer University Goes from Excel to Excellence in Tracking Clinical Hours
The Challenge
Finding a More Reliable Tracking System
When Janette D. Carter, M.Ed., joined the Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences Department at Mercer University School of Medicine four and a half years ago, she encountered an outdated and cumbersome system for tracking graduate students’ clinical hours.
“They would go into Excel spreadsheets and enter the hours. There were clinical errors, people were losing their sheets. It was just not a good system whatsoever,” recalled Carter, a program specialist for the department.
Charged with finding a better system, Carter immediately thought of Time2Track, which she previously witnessed clinicians using as part of their licensure process when she’d worked in the geriatrics field.
“When I came to this department, I really wanted to transform the process of tracking clinical hours and evaluations, to make it more electronic,” she said. “I already knew of Time2Track, and I knew that it was a great system. It was a given on my end that I’d be recommending we use it.”
Results
With Time2Track, Mercer University:
Ensured that students met expectations
through comprehensive reports and analytics that offered insight into their progress
Kept the department up to speed with new requirements
by offering customizable software
Empowered alums with an enduring benefit
through providing continued post-graduation access to the information they had entered in the platform during their time at the University
If you are thinking about using an online tool for tracking hours, Time2Track should be it.
The Solution
An Easy-to-use, Web-based Platform
Now, for the past four years, another “given” for the department has been its accurate and seamless documentation of clinical hours through Time2Track.
“You can use it anywhere,” Carter said. “It’s web-based, so you have that information forever. The students need that, even when they graduate from the program. They’ll need it to keep up with their hours when they’re up for licensure.”
Students at Mercer’s Macon and Atlanta campuses enjoy using Time2Track “because they can enter their hours at any given point throughout the day,” she explained. Once students submit their hours, their clinical supervisor approves them. Mercer’s supervisors are responsible for approving hours that students fulfill at the University’s own facility, while the school also uses Time2Track to record hours which are completed at external placement sites in the community.
“It’s just an easy system,” said Carter. “It has been a fabulous experience. I can’t express how much it has helped.”
The University’s Outcome
Students Stay on Track — Even after Graduation
Carter reflected that Time2Track’s reporting and analytics capabilities have enabled Mercer to “make sure students are on track, because they need to have a certain number of hours by a certain point, or they can’t graduate.”
“It helps us keep track of what information is accurate and helps us keep up with the students,” she said, noting the “wide range of reports you can pull from Time2Track.”
The system has produced even longer-lasting benefits for Mercer. Students have the option of renewing their Time2Track subscription post-graduation at their own expense, but even if they don’t do so, they retain access to the existing information they’d already entered while they studied at the University.
“It doesn’t shut you out. They use Time2Track for the long-term, usually for several years after they leave the program. It’s very helpful. That information stays with them,” Carter said.
Mercer’s Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences Department has been a trailblazer within the platform. Time2Track, in turn, ensures that the software always stays up to date for the department and its shifting needs.
“They tweaked it for us, and it helped tremendously,” said Carter. “Every now and then we have some new requirements, and they work with us to make sure we can actually use Time2Track to fill those needs. They’re wonderful.”
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